Monthly Archives: April 2021

How do patients rate telehealth a year later?

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Since March 2020, telehealth volume has increased at rates we would never have anticipated. As Dr. Rasu Shrestha, EVP & Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer at Atrium Health, said during a panel at the recent CHIME21 Spring Forum, “It was an overnight success 30 years in the making”. Indeed, when there were no other choices, clinicians and patients were quick to adapt.

But what do patients really think of telehealth a year later? The COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition recently published the Telehealth Impact: Patient Survey Analysis. The aims of their research were to determine:

  • How well did telehealth serve the clinical needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic?
  • For what reasons did patients seek care through telehealth?
  • What were the strengths and weaknesses of telehealth related to quality of care?
  • What are patients’ expectations for the use of telehealth after the pandemic?

The 20-question survey was open to persons 18 years or older who had at least one telehealth encounter between March 1, 2020, and January 30, 2021.Survey responders included 2,007 persons from across the U.S. who received telehealth during the pandemic.

The findings were highlighted in an mHealth Intelligence article “COVID-19 Telehealth Delivery Reaps High Patient Satisfaction”, by Hannah Nelson on April 15, 2021. The results are very encouraging for the future of telehealth. Continue reading →

Treasure the good

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The past 14+ months have been a period of loss and sadness. Even if you and your loved ones have remained healthy and employed, the pandemic has impacted all our lives. Now that over 200M people in this country have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 87M people are fully vaccinated, and the vaccine is available to anyone over 16 who wants it, we are on our way to a new chapter. But we still need to get to at least 70% for herd immunity and continue with precautions.

I don’t want to appear Pollyannish as we look to the future, but let’s ask ourselves what good has come out of this past year.

Have you had more quality time and connections with your family being home so much?

Have you found new ways to connect and celebrate milestones with family and friends at a distance?

Have you simplified your life and decreased your consumption?

Have you found new hobbies or restarted old ones?

Have you spent more time reading and learning?

Have you spent more time outside enjoying nature?

Have you explored cooking new foods and eaten healthier at home?

Have you become a kinder person, more caring about your community and people you don’t know?

Have you come to know and appreciate your co-workers in new ways after working together through tough times, and perhaps meeting their kids on video calls and hearing their dogs bark in the background?

Have you converted your work commute into something positive for yourself?

Have you spent time reflecting on your career and what truly is important to you? Continue reading →

Crowdsourcing – looking for your stories on digital transformation 

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I am trying something new with this week’s blog post. I will be doing a talk titled “Digital Transformation: Emerging from COVID19” at an upcoming virtual conference. I will be working on it in my spare time (aka the next two weekends) so it can be recorded in advance.

For many organizations, Digital Health means the “digital front door” and an increased focus on patient or consumer facing applications. But it is far more than that. My StarBridge Advisors colleague, David Muntz, wrote an excellent blog series on Digital Health over the past year. His first post attempted to frame what we mean by Digital Health – “Digital Health – Is Healthcare Ready? Are You and Your Organization Ready?”.

He starts by trying to define it and acknowledge that the Wikipedia definition is good but not great: “Digital health is the convergence of digital technologies with health, healthcare, living, and society to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and make medicine more personalized and precise.” As David expands on his definition, he says ”Digital health requires harnessing the energy from the data tsunami that includes all sources, not just provider-controlled databases. We need to synthesize data from existing sources and use patient generated data, social determinants of health, census information, AI engines, and so many other sources.”

As I work on my upcoming talk, here is my “crowdsource” ask if you are willing to share your stories and anecdotes on any or all of these questions: Continue reading →

Renewal, big rocks, and the elusive work life balance

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Spring is a time of renewal and rebirth. I see daffodils, crocus, and blooming trees everywhere on my daily walks.  After the last 12+ months we have experienced and the vaccine rollout giving us all new hope, it is a time of renewal and rebirth unlike in previous Springs. In past years, I have written about my “big rocks” at this time of year. In April more than any other month I am reminded of my big rocks – it is when my siblings and I lost our father to cancer at a very young age. I turned four years old the day of his funeral.

Over 570,000 families in this country alone have lost one of their “big rocks” to COVID-19. For some families, it has been multiple losses. The stories of a husband and wife dying just hours apart are truly heartbreaking. I am fortunate that all my big rocks here in New England and back in Minnesota where I grew up are healthy and well. And all of us “elders” are vaccinated.

So, in this time of renewal and being two weeks post my second vaccine dose, I look forward to breaking bread this weekend with family members. It will be the first time since an outside, socially distanced, early Thanksgiving we had on November 8th. I told my husband back then that it could be a long, isolating winter as we would not be able to spend time outside with family nor have meals together. After a relatively mild winter, I am happy to say my daughter who lives only 20 minutes away came over on some weekends with her two young daughters to walk the dogs with me and to visit. Some of the visits were outside socially distanced and some were inside with masks.

Thinking about my big rocks is a reminder to take care of myself and maintain a reasonable work life balance, or life work balance as my StarBridge Advisors colleague, David Muntz, likes to call it. Taking on the interim CIO role at Boston Children’s Hospital means I am back to long days and catching up on the weekends. My personal gauge for work life balance each day during this period will be whether I’ve gotten out for walks to hit my 10,000 steps daily goal and if I’ve played the piano. Continue reading →