Telehealth, hybrid care that increases physicians’ EHR workload
While telehealth alone does not appear to add significantly to a GP’s workload, combining modalities – telehealth and in-person hybrid care environments – has led to a 6% increase in time spent on documentary and EHR work, it found from new research.
WHY IT MATTERS
These were among the results of an April study by the MedStar Health Research Institute and Georgetown University School of Medicine published in JAMA Network Openwhich looked at the impact of hybrid care environments on the administrative tasks of general practitioners.
The research team examined the percentage of daily telehealth visits at five levels and analyzed several measures of active EHR time for primary care physicians over 67,894 days.
Days with both telehealth and in-person care correlated with longer EHR, documentation, and medical record time.
Days with 26% to 99% of telehealth visits were associated with nearly 15 additional minutes of active EHR time, approximately 5 additional minutes of documentation minutes, and 5.5 additional minutes of medical record review.
However, hybrid care had no impact on next-day documentation time, indicating that GPs managed to integrate the additional workload.
“The longer EHR time may be due to increased multitasking during telemedicine visits, as primary care physicians interact with patients and the EHR simultaneously during telemedicine visits in ways that are not possible in person,” the report said. “This multitasking may feel more efficient and therefore may not register as ‘taxing’.”
The report’s authors recommended further research to more accurately determine whether additional EHR time on mixed care days was a burden on physicians.
THE BIG TREND
A recent Health Affairs report shows that telehealth improves outcomes and reduces expenditures, revealing greater medication adherence and fewer hospital admissions and ER visits, but the future of regulatory flexibility examined.
The technology can also help providers improving equity in healthcare and access to care, although a detailed implementation strategy will be needed to achieve these goals.
Potential benefits also extend to telepsychiatry, especially to help reach patients in rural areas where there is a lack of specialists, according to a peer-reviewed research report on the topic.
Healthcare providers are considering integrating AI with telemedicine services to improve patient care, as some experts argue that telehealth technology can benefit providers and patients in primary care.
Cedars-Sinai recently expanded its offerings AI-powered virtual healthcare platformCedars-Sinai Connect, with a Spanish version for parents of children ages 3 to 17, provides 24/7 on-demand access to healthcare providers for urgent needs.
However, the evolution toward telehealth is not without speed bumps and setbacks, as recently demonstrated by Walmart’s decision to ending its virtual care program in light of rising operating costs and a “challenging reimbursement environment,” while Optum Care is also closing its major telehealth operations.
ON THE RECORD
“The use of telemedicine has increased significantly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and has the potential to provide low-acuity medical services at a lower cost,” MedStar and Georgetown researchers wrote.
“However, telemedicine also entails new costs for physicians. Telemedicine requires shifting healthcare delivery workflows because it rarely involves clinical support staff but can involve a level of patient complexity similar to in-person visits. This can increase the administrative and electronic burden for doctors. and increase cognitive costs when physicians switch modality.”