“Our study showed that the highest level of patient satisfaction within telemedicine visits was actually among patients within the 65 to 79-year-old age range—which has been an age group often seen as resistant to this mode of care,” says Bart Demaerschalk, M.D., a Mayo Clinic neurologist and senior author. “These findings show how important it is that health care organizations don’t exclusively target telemedicine to their younger, more tech-savvy patients.”
Mayo Clinic, November 3, 2022 – In one of the largest studies to date of its kind, Mayo Clinic researchers found patient satisfaction ratings to be equivalent for video telemedicine visits and in-person clinic visits. These findings highlight the potential for the use of telemedicine across a variety of patient populations.
The study, published in the Patient Experience Journal, evaluated patient satisfaction scores from over 300,000 patients treated either in-person or via video telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While researchers found that patient satisfaction ratings were overall equivalent across the two modes of care, they did observe several interesting trends within certain age groups, genders, and races, which countered historical perceptions of telemedicine and represent opportunities for future study.
Mayo Clinic is happy to offer telemedicine as an option for patients interested in seeking care. Modern technology provides a virtual platform for health care providers and patients to initiate partnership in care in a secure, safe and convenient way.
Macular degeneration is a leading cause of visual impairment in people over 65 and can lead to blindness. One in three people will eventually suffer some degree of macular degeneration, which is caused by abnormal blood vessels under the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye. We treat both the more common “dry” as well as the more dangerous “wet” forms of macular degeneration. While there is currently no cure for this disease, we offer the latest treatments to reduce the risk of vision loss and blindness. These include anti-VEGF drugs—which attack proteins that create the abnormal blood vessels that cause macular degeneration—and photodynamic therapy, in which patients ingest medication that is then activated with a laser.
This high quality video shows several aspects of macular degeneration. It discusses treatments with stem cells that are in the research phase; in the future there may be replacements for the abnormal support cells, the vascular cells and pigmented epithelium, that are diseased in macular degeneration.
Current treatment centers on control of abnormal blood vessels either by photo active laser, laser coagulation, or anti-VEGF. Macular degeneration has two forms, wet and dry. The wet macular degeneration has accumulations, or Drusen, under the epithelium. There are also machines to check the thickness of the macula, which is an aid in diagnosis.
The main symptom of macular degeneration or loss of vision especially in The center of the visual field, which is essential for reading. As I mentioned in my podcast, I made a posting on macular degeneration that includes an amsler grid. Some early symptoms of macular degeneration include waviness of the lines of this grid. Certainly if you have any visual distortion or loss you should see an ophthalmologist.
If your medical plan permits it, I feel but a regular check buy an ophthalmologist approximately every 6 to 12 months, is very useful. My own ophthalmologist checks my retinal thickness, optic nerve, pressure and peripheral Field ( to pick up glaucoma) as well as my vision on each visit.
From tele-consults in the ED to on-site fundus imaging at Primary Care offices, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) is adapting to the rapidly changing healthcare environment with innovative new applications and technologies and making them a permanent part of our patient service. These approaches are not only valuable social distancing tools, to reduce coronavirus exposure of physicians, staff, and patients, but they also allow greater access to care and quicker and more effective triage of patients.
For more information about NYEE, visit www.nyee.edu
A growing number of hospitals are relying on remote ICUs to monitor and evaluate patients virtually, which helps to cope with an unrelenting COVID-19 caseload.
What should you expect when you schedule a telehealth appointment with our physicians? John Carmichael, MD, and Sirisha Mohan, MD, walk you through the process and offer helpful tips on how to make the most of the experience.
By providing house calls and telemedicine from physicians at a fixed monthly fee with no copays, no deductibles, and no insurance required, Heal Pass is making affordable healthcare possible for the estimated 27 million Americans who recently lost their health insurance along with their jobs because of COVID-19.
Heal patients can register now for the new service starting at $49 per month.
Adults can add members of their household to their Heal Pass account for an additional $10 per person each month and may register up to six people to the account.
Patients spend an average of $800 out of pocket each year, in addition to $2,000 for an emergency room visit.
With Heal Pass, a family of four would receive up to 36 total appointments at an average cost of less than $27.
Individual patients can save up to $1,100 per year and the average family can save up to $2,200 per year.
Uninsured individuals and their families are fearful of getting sick and accumulating high medical bills during this time of economic uncertainty.
Heal Pass is not health insurance, but it is health assurance, giving the uninsured the comfort of knowing they can get the care they need at a fixed, low fee with no surprise bills or out of pocket costs.
The new program allows up to eight house calls or telemedicine appointments per member each year in addition to an annual physical, helping with patients’ most common needs, including primary care, preventive care, non-emergency urgent care and chronic disease management.
It also includes free next day delivery of medications prescribed by a Heal doctor. Heal doctors are highly qualified and deliver house calls and care in a way that keeps patients safe from COVID-19 exposure as the country sees a pronounced second spike with 58,618 cases per day on average over the last seven days.
Telemedicine and Covid 19 are fermenting together and creating some new ideas for medical care.
Safety is a concern, and what could be better than your own home, using telemedicine, or a futuristic telemedicine booth located at convenient locations for the busy traveler?
Convenience is another attraction, with a PREPAID aliquot of healthcare; this idea was featured by Forward Health, reviewed a couple of weeks ago, which offered a package of remote monitors and 24/7 access for $149 per month.
Now, Heal pass offers 24/7 access they call “house calls” for $49. a month, with a blizzard of statistics on what you will save. We will see.
You usually get what you pay for.
The Onmed station sounds doable, and has the advantage of self-contained units that may be available to you at the right place and time. You could conceivably even wind up with a prescription as you exit the booth.
Outpatient Virtual Visits connect patients and health care providers to Dartmouth-Hitchcock specialists via scheduled outpatient TeleHealth visits. Outpatient Virtual Visits increase access to specialty care services for patients located in rural or underserved areas and improves the patient experience via more convenient access to specialty care with reduced travel. D-H Outpatient Virtual Visit services currently offered including specialty clinic appointments, direct-to-patient home visits and inpatient consultations.
TeleEmergency
TeleEmergencyprovides a board-certified emergency medicine physician and an experienced emergency nurse to join the bedside team, on-demand, 24/7. Using high-quality, two-way audio-video communication, the TeleEmergency team assists by whatever means requested, including nursing documentation, direct patient care, consultation, a second set of eyes, assistance with transfer coordination, acceptance, and/or transport.
TeleICN
TeleICN allows D-H Neonatologists to join your bedside team to serve the needs of you and your patients for a wide variety of diagnoses. Some babies require a higher level of care as they adjust to life outside of the mother’s body. The 24/7 support of ICN services helps keep patients and families closer to home by supporting clinical decision making and providing expert evaluations and recommendations. If a transfer is necessary, our specialized ICN team will assist in transporting that patient.
TeleICU
TeleICU provides experienced intensive care physicians and critical care nurses to augment, not replace, the bedside team. In addition, the service provides behind-the-scenes, high-level monitoring and sophisticated analytical algorithms to identifying concerning trends prior to patient deterioration. Not only does this result in decreased mortality and length of stay; it also allows more patients to get their ICU care close to home.
TeleNeurology
TeleNeurologyprovides board-certified neurologists on-demand 24/7 for Emergency Department and inpatient consultations. This includes not only stroke (including evaluation and recommendations, and assistance with tPA administration), but also assistance with other adult neurologic emergencies. This allows a lower cost coverage option for hospitals with limited or no neurologist access, improved tPA administration rates and decreased transfers.
TelePharmacy
TelePharmacyconnects hospitals to a team of dedicated pharmacists who can provide medication order review and processing as well as clinical consultation, allowing hospitals to optimize their internal staffing while remaining compliant with order review regulations. D-H TelePharmacy improves medication efficacy, patient safety and staff satisfaction while also supporting the integration of pharmacy delivery within hospital systems and/or regions, including protocols and order sets.
TelePsychiatry
TelePsychiatryenables prompt assessment and management of patients in the Emergency Department or inpatient setting for locations that do not have around-the-clock psychiatric coverage. Board-certified psychiatrists provide 24/7, on-demand assessments including expedited admit vs. discharge decisions, early management recommendations, and assistance with medication management, while improving the ultimate patient trajectory.
TeleUrgent Care
TeleUrgent Care provides back-up, support and consultation to Urgent Care providers by emergency medicine physicians via high-definition, two-way audio-video conferencing. TeleUrgent Care physician input can include general recommendations, real-time patient assessments, second opinions, advice regarding the need and timing of additional emergent or urgent evaluations, review of radiographic images, and assistance with volume surges.
H4D facilitates access to healthcare by allowing patients to consult a doctor remotely in the Consult Station®, the first connected local telemedicine booth. This medical device allows quality healthcare to be delivered for primary care, occupational health, and general health promotion.
CONVENIENCE, SIMPLICITY, and SAFETY area all goals of TECHNOLOGY going forward.
The “hands-free” check-in for hospitals and hotels are convenient and safety, but require a certain level of familiarity with technology, and may be Hard for the elderly to use. I think about the airport check-in kiosks, and store check-out points. The solution is to have “helpers” stationed by to assist.
The Telemedicine booth, with devices for examination of the ears, nose, and throat, a stethoscope probe for the lungs, payment port, video camera, etc certainly offers convenience, but may need helpers for guidance, and to clean after every use.
I’m betting on a super I Phone in all areas, although cost and band width improvement will be needed.
—Dr. C
Empowering Patients Through Education And Telemedicine
Doctors Without Waiting Rooms 