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Researchers from the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine released a briefing note this week to explore the scope, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and future prospects of telehealth.
By combining literature reviews and interviews with a wide variety of stakeholders, the team sought to identify the most pressing research questions on how to maximize telediagnosis opportunities – while avoiding possible problem areas.
“We have found that remote diagnosis has potential, although there is still a lot to learn about how virtual diagnosis can be performed most effectively,” said Suz Schrandt, senior patient engagement advisor at SIDM and principal researcher of the project, in a press release.
“We have found that many patients like the convenience of telemedicine, but we also need more research to find out who is left behind in the process, such as small practices or people without high-speed internet access,” Schrandt continued.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
As an organization, SIDM is focused on improving diagnosis and eliminating damage caused by misdiagnosis. It partners with stakeholders such as patients, families and members of the healthcare community.
Researchers noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a huge paradigm shift when it comes to certain telehealth needs.
“Most of the available research on telemedicine focuses on the use of virtual care for health maintenance, but the use of telemedicine for diagnosis – telediagnosis – on this scale is unprecedented, creating more unknowns than known on its impact on the quality and safety of the diagnosis ”, read SIDM Information Note.
The research team found that the published evidence regarding the effectiveness of telemedicine for diagnosis is quite limited.
“While some evidence shows high patient satisfaction rates, other data shows that such convenience can come at a cost,” they wrote.
“In general, there is still a lot to learn about the effectiveness of telemedicine as a whole, and more in the context of the quality and safety of diagnosis,” they added.
Some providers noted the value of being able to see someone’s home to better understand the details of their family and social background. At the same time, they said it was more difficult to assess body language and other visual cues.
Remote patient monitoring devices have also been highlighted as a way to enable continuity of care and deal with any unexpected health incident.
“A challenge that emerged within each stakeholder group was the difficulty of measuring or evaluating the actual impact of telemedicine on quality and safety, and this remains the key research question that needs to be addressed.” , we read in the brief.
“Many hospitals and health systems had collected data on patient satisfaction, but these surveys did not assess the accuracy of the diagnosis,” he continued.
The researchers noted that the industry still lacks the means to measure diagnostic errors in person, so it’s not too surprising that telemedicine is also lagging behind in this area.
They highlighted other research questions that persisted, including technological barriers patients still face and how telehealth can make routine assessments more effective.
“Could this virtual care revolution provide a natural starting point for a more robust study of diagnostic quality and safety? ” they wrote.
THE BIGGEST TREND
Resolving diagnostic errors is a major concern for many stakeholders.
In 2017, a report of the National Quality Forum found that 5 percent or more of patients in the United States are misdiagnosed, contributing to up to 17 percent of adverse hospital events.
At that time, the organization said electronic health records are not equipped to help providers make an accurate diagnosis.
Corn the experts underlined the roles of other health technologies, like AI tools, can play in solving the problem.
ON THE RECORD
“Overall, research priorities for the effectiveness of telediagnosis should focus on symptoms requiring in-person assessments; what the right mix of in-person and virtual care looks like; who is being left behind in the expansion of virtual care; and what determines the success or failure of telediagnosis, ”said Dr. Mark Graber, founder and chairman emeritus of SIDM and co-author of the briefing note, in a statement.
Kat Jercich is Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
E-mail: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
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