Page 11 - Telecom Reseller FebMar 2017

Telecom Reseller 11 TIs There a Future in Telemedicine for Small Practices
February/March 2017
he year is 2030 and the days of small readmissions than those in larger practices. has brought many small practices countless practices are coming to a tragic end, DIBATTISTA Small practices bene t from close relationships headaches due to complicated (and in some as the virtual capabilities of large with patients, treating not just the symptoms cases, failed) EHR rollout in the past decade.
and innovative health systems have become but the person as a whole. us the extinction of Due to this hesitancy, we are seeing many integrated into the lives of patients worldwide. by Jake DiBattista, Territory personalized, small scale medicine must not be providers who identify new telemedicine
Patient monitoring is constant, blending into the lifestyles of patients who have grown accustom to an emerging world of integrated healthcare
in consumer technology. Healthcare has nally reached the golden age of patient empowerment and engagement in no small part due to telemedicine.
Whether this is a world of sci- or reality
is still to be determined. What is for certain, however, is that we are in a time of great transition in healthcare, and this transition
has not treated all parties equally. While the
“big boys” of healthcare push forward with innovation centers and expanded mechanisms for care delivery, the small practices are getting le behind. With limited capital and sta
to support the transitions being demanded
of providers, the small practice nds itself neglected in a blossoming healthcare technology ecosystem.
So why are these practices that once made up the backbone of our healthcare system being neglected? Well for one, the number of small practices in America has been rapidly shrinking since their heyday just a few decades
Manager, SimpleVisit (www. simplevisit.com)
ago. In a recent report by the American Medical Association it was shown that younger doctors were 2.5 times less likely than older doctors
to be in solo practice. e natural ow of new doctors moving from small practices to large health systems is causing a natural decline as
no one replaces the previous generations of providers in small practices. As a result, there is a shrinking marketplace in addressing the needs of the small practice, pushing new companies to focus on the large systems which dominate the healthcare marketplace.
However, while small practices may make up a shrinking portion of the healthcare system,
it is important that we do not forget about the critical role these practices play in improving outcomes and working towards a healthier future. In a recent study conducted by the National Institutes of Health it was revealed that patients of physicians practicing in solo and small practices have lower rates of preventable
pushed away as we move forward into the era of enterprise healthcare.
Enter the newest trend in healthcare: telemedicine and remote patient monitoring, which are becoming powerful tools in the ght against chronic illnesses and the rising healthcare costs in America. So how are small practices reacting? As you may expect, with resistance. In a recent survey conducted by SimpleVisit, it was found that 75% of doctors identi ed a portion of their patient population that they believed would bene t from telemedicine. However, only 14% of those interviewed had indicated interest in implementing a telemedicine o ering.
So why is there this disconnect between what doctors see as good for their patients and what they are actually willing to try? At its core, this resistance can be linked to the practitioner- patient bond that is common in small practices. Doctors don’t want to put technological barriers between them and their patients, and are afraid they might miss something if they can’t do an in person evaluation.
In addition to this bond, the last decade
social aspect of working in an o ce. e key di culties that employers o en nd with autistic employees are social communication and interaction, lack of understanding from peers, and sensory issues. Employers must bare these in mind, but advances in Big Data are providing an increasing number of innovative solutions to tackle these di culties.
omas Madar is an example. When employed in a role, he struggled with the social aspects of a working environment, and was o en dismissed as having poor communication. When searching for employment, he struggled in interviews and found it di cult to convey himself as a likeable person who could t perfectly into a team. Eventually he found Specialisterne, a company who specialise in helping those with autism to nd a job by matching them to a role where skills such as attention to detail, that are characteristic of the autism spectrum, are valued. rough them, omas Madar found a role that suited him.
Specialisterne’s solution helps individuals to secure a suitable job, however it does not
programs as pro t-losing barriers to care instead of tools to improve patient access and monitoring. What is important for telemedicine vendors to understand is that the needs and budgets of these providers to implement technology is limited. ey lack the massive marketing and admin teams of health systems and most importantly lack time to troubleshoot a product that is not working as promised. us we must perfect and simplify our products
as vendors if we hope to foster the support of smaller practices.
So what will healthcare look like in 2030? More of the same? or perhaps a world of connected care where providers are more in touch with the needs of patients than ever. e future is unknown, but if small practices cannot get on-board with the rapid transition to remote care it may be a bleak future for them a er all. So is the rise in telemedicine the next EHR for small practices, and if so, will small practices once again be le to struggle as large health systems get the bene t of premium treatment and custom solutions? Only time will tell, but for the sake of patients, let us hope not. ●
“The idea that people who formally have a disability can produce and sometimes even outperform non-disabled people in the workspace is quite a disruptive thought for employers,”
Thorkil Sonne, founder of
Specialisterne
take any steps to make the actual employment easier for either the employee or the employer. is is where Big Data, voice analytics and UC solutions come in: Big Voice. Utilising Big Voice,
JIRBANDY continuesonpage 12 ››
Big Voice - a Case Study on Tackling Autism
This post is part of a series on Big Data:
• Big Data - What is it?
• How Big Data will Change Contact
Centres Forever
• Big Voice - a Case Study on
Tackling Autism
The power of Big Data, speci cally in contact centres, has been examined
in the previous posts in this series. is post focuses on the potential of Big Voice - the result of managing Big Data through voice analytics and Uni ed Communications solutions. Big Voice can use intelligent diagnostic solutions to e ectively manage
Big Data and increase the value of business communications for all companies.
Big Voice is a new and largely unexplored territory of data which, if utilised by businesses, can enable them to provide a new range of services and increase their appeal to customers. Amazon Echo and other rival products are among the rst glimpses into the potential of Big Voice that has been integrated into everyday life. Amazon Echo is a voice assistant and speaker system that was highly successful in the US and has only recently become successful in the UK, a er a 2 year process of analysing and integrating the British accent into the solution. e business value of Big Voice is extensive, and yet it currently remains largely untapped. One of the many capabilities of Big Voice is an ability to analyse the sentiment of a speaker, which
can be used by companies to provide assistance in employing adults with certain disabilities, speci cally autism.
According to the National Autistic Society, there are around 700,000 people with autism in the UK alone and shockingly, around 85% of these are unemployed. Employing people with autism is obviously important for their well being, but is actually also bene cial to a company; adults with autism commonly make excellent employees, and a national survey
JIRBANDY
by Amir Jirbandey, Head of Marketing at Dubber (www.dubber.net)
of consumer attitudes found that 87% of Americans would prefer to give their business to a company that hires adults with disabilities. Additional surveys have found that employees with disabilities have excellent attendance records, and are just as productive as their peers.
However, autistic men and women o en struggle to nd employment and when they do nd a role they o en struggle with the