What is the value of Telemedicine?
Igor: “Telemedicine has revolutionized the notion of how convenient, effective, and cheap health care can be. We started with eliminating the need to travel from rural locations to large cities for rudimentary care, compensating for physician shortages around the U.S. and worldwide. We’ve allowed patients to check-in with clinical staff about emergent health issues around the clock, from the convenience of their home. Now, we are moving to more systematic monitoring and connection with patients dealing with difficult issues (chronic, mental, behavioral conditions), where we can monitor their progress and ensure that they receive assistance when it is needed. This helps patients recover faster, lowers the likelihood or readmission, and greatly reduces costs to both the patient and the health plan.”
What do you hope to bring to the conference?
Igor: “As a company, we bring our mission of surrounding patients dealing with complex health issues with remote patient monitoring services; we know these services work, lower costs, and help patients recover faster. I am also excited to add my psychology perspective to medical conversations.”
What do you hope to get out of the conference?
Igor: “We see a lot of different individuals and companies in attendance who are moving health care forward in measurable ways. We are looking to be part of this conversation, further insert remote patient monitoring into the conversation, and make new connections.”
What is stopping us from adopting telemedicine on a broader scale?
Igor: “Telemedicine is finally going mainstream. For years, patients, regulators, and others worried that telemedicine would be less effective, less private and lead to medical errors. However, the lessons we have learned in the last 15 years or so clearly say that telemedicine is effective, and provides measurable benefits and costs savings. Happening now is the more novel methods of telemedicine, such as the phone-based check-in about emergent health concerns, or remote monitoring. Here, we are both tackling educating the industry and the patients.”
What is stopping us from adopting telemedicine on a broader scale?
Igor: “Telemedicine is finally going mainstream. For years, patients, regulators, and others worried that telemedicine would be less effective, less private and lead to medical errors. However, the lessons we have learned in the last 15 years or so clearly say that telemedicine is effective, and provides measurable benefits and costs savings. Happening now is the more novel methods of telemedicine, such as the phone-based check-in about emergent health concerns, or remote monitoring. Here, we are both tackling educating the industry and the patients.”
What do you predict is next for the mental health/health industry?
Igor: “I think mental health is finally realizing the value of being able to help patients remotely, especially in rural areas; with the renewed focus on mental health care and integrated care, we see more health systems with mental health staff embedded into the care continuum. The presence of social workers and counselors in hospitals not only improves access, but also opens the possibility of using more advanced telemedicine tools, not always practical in private practice. So counselors can use sophisticated EHRs, video calling, and remote monitoring, just like other departments. I anticipate that we will see rapid adoption of these tools in mental health.”
