Children’s Mercy Kansas City is a pediatric health system with top-level designations for neonatal and pediatric intensive care, emergency and trauma services, fetal health and services. transport.
PROBLEM
Children’s Mercy supports children in Kansas and Missouri, with the next children’s hospitals hours away in all directions. This vast geographic area has forever been a significant challenge for patients and their families to access pediatric specialist care.
Morgan Waller, telemedicine business director, said: “There is high demand for specialist pediatric service providers and the constraints many families face in terms of transportation and time off work. and school leave as well as finance, it is clear that traditional models of outreach health care are not sustainable.” works at Children’s Mercy.
She added: “The support of leadership and visionaries who decided telemedicine was the solution to this growing problem of too few specialists and pediatric patients. have complex health care needs scattered and isolated throughout rural Kansas and Missouri.”
SUGGESTIONS
Given the distance barrier to care and the recognition that telemedicine can add value to achieving Triple Aim’s goals of improving access to specialists, quality care and affordability, Children’s Mercy Kansas City has begun identifying telemedicine and technology options to help treat patients across service areas.
“After evaluating options, at the time Children’s Mercy started this very limited, 2011 initiative, InTouch Health, a division of Teladoc Health, decided to provide the medical platform from best to support telemedicine access clinics in the area,” recalls Waller. “It is Teladoc Health’s dedication to quality, reliability and patient/provider experience that sets it apart.
“There is no doubt that the devices that InTouch Health made available a decade ago, combined with their proprietary network, have delivered unprecedented experiences for providers and patients,” she continued. customary. “To truly have a solution to these accessibility challenges for these pediatric patients, Children’s Mercy needs to be able to replicate virtually the same standard of care, as it is delivered directly, up to. highest level of encounter.”
That means providers hundreds of miles away must be able to hear the sound of breathing; look into the eyes, nose, mouth and ears; and view scalp and skin at close range or magnified, and do so without interruption due to poor network quality or other technological interference.
“To argue for sustainability, investing in the highest quality technology to ensure early adopters in Children’s Mercy will lead the way and inspire new sub-specialists to take advantage of our services,” she explains. virtual care to treat more complex conditions and meet the needs of more patients in the region.” .
MARKET
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MEET CHALLENGES ONLY
Telemedicine clinics have been established at two locations in Kansas and two in Missouri with further expansion planned. These facilities are identical to traditional healthcare clinics, with the addition of Teladoc Health’s real-time, two-way interactive audio-visual technology supporting the use of technical ancillary examination devices. JedMed number.
BSN and RN remote facilitators trained in a variety of specialist assessments directly assist patients and providers in Kansas City to ensure that standards of care are met (up to clinical level 5) for these complex appointments.
RESULT
“Teletherapy improves access to highly sought-after subspecialists,” says Waller. “Instead of traditional outreach programs, where providers would fly or drive for hours to meet groups of patients in rural areas, telemedicine allows providers to see patients in the time they are traveling and the reach is theoretically infinite.
She continued: “Since the establishment of the telemedicine department in 2012, the number of subspecialty visits through telemedicine has steadily increased. “Prior to COVID, nearly 2% of all emergency specialist care was supported through telemedicine. Children’s Mercy has continued to support patients and families in Missouri, Kansas and the surrounding area. by upholding their commitment to telemedicine and regional access.”
Appreciate the important role that specially trained BSN and RN remote facilitators play in meeting hospital standards of care and patient and family and provider experiences complex care delivered remotely, Children’s Mercy has continued to deliver these talented nursing professionals.
“In addition, telemedicine has been shown to reduce the financial burden on families by eliminating the cost of traveling significant distances for care, food, shelter and/or childcare. you,” Waller noted. “Parents and children miss out on significantly less time from work and school when seen at a telemedicine clinic.
“Having a centralized, complete telemedicine unit also allows Children’s Mercy to rapidly transition to home telemedicine appointments in the spring of 2020,” she added. “Within three weeks, the organization had all its subspecialties and allied health services (51 separate service lines) ready to not only care for patients and families remotely, but also schedule, document, and bill these meetings (excluding limitations of some electronic solutions at the time).”
At the height of the lockdown, Children’s Mercy Kansas City converted 65% of emergency appointments into telemedicine at home. However, once the pandemic is over, the need for telemedicine continues.
TIPS FOR OTHER PEOPLE
“Many organizations are still not leveraging the full potential of telemedicine,” warns Waller. “It is disappointing that the growing awareness and understanding of telemedicine brought to the world through the pandemic has been limited to the patient’s home experience.
She continues: “Although an equally valuable approach, direct-to-patient telemedicine has limitations. “If the country and the world must deal with a growing shortage of doctors and healthcare providers, then going beyond traditional models of care to all kinds of epidemic service is necessary.”
Healthcare leaders will be the ones looking for high-quality telemedicine technologies that connect to peripheral examination devices with high-definition cameras and stethoscopes, she added. digital concurrently uses available bandwidth efficiently to stay connected, regardless of external conditions.
“They will enable remote RN facilitators practicing within their full scope of licensure to partner with physicians, advanced practice nurses, and physician assistants to provide care.” expertise for complex patient conditions in the least intrusive ways possible,” she said.
“They will equip all patient care areas with the virtual sophistication needed to replicate the standard of telemedicine care for all services delivered in person,” she concluded. “And healthcare leaders will realize that achieving a mature delivery system by 2022 and beyond requires a dedicated team of telemedicine professionals working alongside with traditional healthcare professionals at all levels.”
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