Like many, I had my first virtual doctor’s appointment in 2020. It was a positive experience, I didn’t have to commute to the doctor’s office, take time off from work or lose brain cells reading trashy magazines while waiting to see the doctor 😀
What is telehealth?
Telehealth can be described as the remote communication of healthcare services, telehealth can include: video consultations, phone calls, remote patient monitoring and more.
What was the state of telehealth before the pandemic?
In Canada, telehealth accounted for only 0.15% of billable health services in 2015, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Even prior to the pandemic, there was a demand from Canadians for telehealth services, however, some of these services were not available.
For instance, respondents surveyed by Canada Health Infoway in 2018 reported 71% of Canadians would have liked the option to book appointments electronically but just 9% of family physicians currently offered this service, whereas, 63% of Canadians would have liked to be able to email their health care provider but just 24% of family physicians offered this service, and 41% of Canadians would have liked the option to have video visits with their healthcare provider but just 4% of family physicians offered this option.
In 2018, these results revealed a stark gap in the perceptions of how Canadians wanted to interact digitally with their healthcare providers and the availability of these telehealth platforms.
Although patients are ready to have healthcare fall in line with their digital world, telehealth presents unique challenges including establishing interoperability when sharing healthcare data between different healthcare organizations such as pharmacies, hospitals and diagnostic labs. When Canada Health Infoway surveyed physicians in 2018, only 25% of physicians indicated they could receive electronic messages or clinical notes from a community pharmacy.
How does the use of telehealth compare in other countries?
In England according to the NHS, 14% of healthcare visits took place over the phone in April 2019. In the US when physicians were surveyed by the American Medical Association, to see how attitudes of physicians had shifted towards adopting clinical digital tools, the percentage of physicians who adopted virtual care surveyed rose from 14-28% between 2016-2019. Overall there seemed to be a positive trend even before the pandemic, from both physicians and patients for the increased adoption of telehealth globally.
What is the state of telehealth during the pandemic?
According to McKinsey, their COVID-19 Consumer Survey reported in 2019, 11% of US consumers were using telehealth and that has jumped to around 46% of consumers now using telehealth, as a result of the pandemic, to replace cancelled healthcare visits.
At this time it is too early to directly measure the impact of telehealth on the Canadian healthcare system, yet it is without a doubt, 2020 fast-tracked the adoption of telehealth across the country.
There are benefits to the use of telehealth, such as the potential reduction for no-show appointments, as individuals will not be dependent on public transportation and the time saved for the patient. However, there are still many hurdles that have to be addressed if we want telehealth to be integrated into the healthcare model. Some of these challenges include a lack of digital literacy from patients, poor internet connectivity in rural and remote areas of Canada, confusion surrounding compensation from insurance companies and privacy and security concerns of telehealth platforms.
What is the future of telehealth?
There is no doubt that the future of telehealth is bright and has been fast-tracked by the pandemic. There are many areas of the society which can benefit from telehealth such as rural and remote areas and with further advances in 5G technology, this will hopefully help improve connectivity in these areas. One idea, once the pandemic is over, would be to adopt a hybrid system in Canada. This system would permit telehealth as an option for low-risk patients and allow physicians to spend more time in-person with high-risk patients or with patients who have difficulty using virtual platforms.
Comment down below, do you think telehealth is here to stay in Canada?
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