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12
Stakeholder Perspectives
A panel of stakeholders who represent individuals who are involved
in or receive health care services through telehealth technologies discussed
their individual and organizational perspectives on telehealth. They also
considered actions HHS could take to further the use of telehealth to im-
prove health care outcomes while controlling costs.
NATIONAL RURAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION
Alan Morgan, M.P.A.
National Rural Health Association
We are at the perfect storm of health care: If we are to move forward
in implementation of the ACA, if we are to address current workforce
shortages in rural America, if we are to address quality and disparities, we
have no other option than the use of telehealth as a clinical tool. The bar-
rier to the implementation of telehealth is no longer the technology, as it
was 20 years ago. Instead, the barriers remain in the rules, regulations, and
guidelines that we have imposed. The National Rural Health Association
(NRHA) focuses on four key policy areas to advance telehealth: reimburse-
ment, credentialing, broadband and infrastructure, and research.
Reimbursement
First, the NRHA recommends lifting the geographic patient require-
ments of receiving health care via telemedicine. As we proceed, we should
115
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116 THE ROLE OF TELEHEALTH
not lose sight of the rural designations in ensuring that rural areas are
served. However, rural providers are reimbursed less than their urban coun-
terparts. If the financial equation for the urban base originating site does
not work, telemedicine will remain as a fringe service. Second, the NRHA
recommends the elimination of separate billing procedures for telehealth
services. Telemedicine is a tool for the clinician; the use of separate, specific
codes does not make any sense. The third recommendation is to reimburse
care provided by physical therapists, respiratory therapists, speech thera-
pists, and social workers. These services are in high demand in rural areas,
but are often not available to rural communities. Finally, the NRHA recom-
mends reimbursement for S&F applications.
Credentialing
We need to look at the cost of credentialing and privileging, as it is very
burdensome to rural providers. A telehealth provider can administer health
care services to patients anywhere in the country. The NRHA recommends
that CMS adopt a policy to allow telehealth providers to receive deemed
status (meaning that the providers meet Medicare and Medicaid certifica-
tion requirements) and to allow for health care facilities receiving telehealth
services to perform credentialing by proxy.
Broadband and Infrastructure
Investment in broadband will require the combined will of and col-
laboration between government regulators and private industry.
Research
Much research on telehealth is already available. However, the NRHA
calls for additional quality measures in telehealth treatments to improve
the services in rural America. To be clear, the health care delivered in rural
America is not of lower quality. This is reflected neither in the 2005 IOM
report Quality Through Collaboration (IOM, 2005) nor in CMS Hospital
Compare data that compare small critical access hospitals to their urban
counterparts. Those sources indicate that rural health care is comparable
(and sometimes even better) than the health care that is delivered in urban
communities. However, it makes sense to look at some specialties to see if
the quality of care has improved with the use of telehealth.
The NRHA also calls for research to aid the telehealth resource centers
and regional extension centers to improve the services they provide. The
NRHA does not mean to imply these centers are not doing their jobs, but
without the outcomes research of how their assistance is helping, they can-
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STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES 117
not move forward in providing technical expertise to rural providers and
communities.
Finally, the NRHA calls for a study on the effect of telehealth on re-
cruiting and training clinicians. Telehealth not only addresses the direct
clinical application, but also can help address workforce challenges.
AMERICAN TELEMEDICINE ASSOCIATION
Stewart Ferguson, Ph.D.
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium;
American Telemedicine Association
Providers who use telehealth usually start locally and then build to
regional, national, and international efforts. Telehealth has largely been
successful in Alaska--it is depended upon to decrease costs (especially
travel costs) in the delivery of health care services, and Alaskan leaders are
looking for incentives to increase the use of telehealth. Alaskan hospitals
embrace telehealth as part of their strategies and business plans. Tribal part-
ners mandate the use of telehealth, and have demanded increased use for
access to specialty care. Just like others, Alaska has a vision that telehealth
will be fully integrated into the health care system to improve the quality,
access, equity, and affordability of health care throughout the world. After
this type of success, the challenge will be trying to scale the system to meet
the demand.
The ATA provides resources to local telehealth providers such as its
journal, webinars and webcasts, social media outlets, and opportunities for
member participation. The annual meeting of the ATA is the largest of its
kind anywhere in the world devoted specifically to telehealth. It convenes
providers, device manufacturers, educators, and academics to discuss the
best evidence and the best financial models. Aside from meetings, the in-
fluence of the ATA has a lot to do with the participation of its members.
Within the ATA, there are several special interest groups that are made up
of subject matter experts who hold their own webinars and meetings. There
are also various chapters, discussion groups, an Industry Council, and an
Institutional Council (representing those who provide health care). These
member groups are important in the development of practice guidelines,
advocacy, training, and peer review.
A major challenge in the adoption of new telehealth programs is not
knowing the best practices for doing so; the ATA is a major resource for
this information. With the involvement of academia, industry, provid-
ers, and clinicians, the ATA has developed several evidence-based practice
guidelines, with many more in progress (see Box 12-1). Guidelines and
standards are especially important because telehealth is a solution of scale.
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118 THE ROLE OF TELEHEALTH
BOX 12-1
American Telemedicine Association Practice Guidelines
Completed In Progress
· Teledermatology Quick · Remote Prescribing
Guides for Live-Interactive and · Desktop and Internet Telemental Health
Store and Forward · Remote Health Monitoring Data
· TelepresentingManagement
· Diagnosis of Diabetic · TeleUrgent/Primary Care
Retinopathy · Tele-ICU
· Telerehabilitation · Telepathology
· Telemental Health: Video-Based · Telestroke
Evidence-Based Telemental · Teleradiology
Health
· Core Standards for Telemedicine
Networks
· Teledermatology
· Home Telehealth
· Telepathology
SOURCE: Presentation by Stewart Ferguson, American Telemedicine Association.
The investment and the change in the health care delivery system are just
too difficult to do for too few patients. However, when you get to scale, the
problems and challenges change. When you look ahead to an exponential
adoption curve, the challenges are challenges of scale (e.g., going from 40 to
400 to 4,000 annual consultations). Much of this will require standardized
training and methodologies and centralized support. In this vein, the ATA
accredits telemedicine training programs.
ATA Strategic Plan for Fiscal Year 2013
In the coming year, the ATA will continue to work on changes in public
policy. They will develop and distribute an evidence base and care studies
for telehealth and drive the adoption of best practices through standards
and guidelines. They will work with the training programs on developing
a comprehensive educational system. Finally, they will continue to work
with consumers to ensure they are aware that telehealth technologies exist
to meet their needs.
The ATA is more than "American" and it is more than "Telemedicine."
More than 10 percent of ATA members are international, which is good
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STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES 119
because telehealth and health care go beyond the bounds of this country
alone. The overall goal of the ATA is to bring people together and move
the telehealth agenda forward.
AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION
Georges Benjamin, M.D., FACP, FACEP(E), FNAPA, Hon FRSPH
American Public Health Association
Public health looks at the world primarily from a population-based
perspective, and not individual patients. Just like in our evolving health care
system, there are also many new drivers of change for the population health
system. These include the enhanced capacity to link and analyze large da-
tasets, the speed at which technology is changing, and the requirement to
better integrate primary care and public health (e.g., prevention and early
intervention). The younger generation will be a major driver of much of
this new change because they are much more comfortable with the use of
emerging technology.
Healthy People 2020
Healthy People 20201 includes, as one of its goals, the use of health
communication strategies and health information technology to improve
population health outcomes, to improve health care quality, and to achieve
health equity. It also includes several related objectives that support shared
decision making between patients and providers. The telehealth movement
helps this shared decision-making and fundamentally changing the relation-
ship between patients and providers toward an interaction that supports an
informed, bilateral conversation to improve health. Other Healthy People
2020 objectives that support telehealth include goals to deliver reliable and
actionable health information, goals to connect with culturally diverse and
hard-to-reach populations, and a goal to provide sound principles in the
design of programs and interventions that result in healthier behaviors.
Telehealth and Population Health
Telehealth brings enormous value to managing population health in-
terventions. Public health has 3 core functions and provides 10 essential
1Healthy People is a set of national health objectives consisting of overarching goals for
improving the overall health of all Americans and more specific objectives in a variety of focus
areas. Every 10 years, HHS evaluates the progress that has been made on Healthy People goals
and objectives, sets new goals and objectives, and sets new benchmarks for progress.
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120 THE ROLE OF TELEHEALTH
services. The core functions are assessment of community health needs,
policy development to address those needs, and assurance that all necessary
health services are available. The 10 essential services focus on a range of
public health services that are believed to be necessary to improve popula-
tion health. They include the following:
· Monitor health status.
· Diagnose and investigate health hazards.
· Inform, educate, and empower people about their health.
· Mobilize community partnerships to solve problems.
· Develop policies and plans to support health.
· Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and safety.
· Link people to providers of care.
· Ensure a competent health workforce.
· Evaluate the effectiveness and quality of health services.
Telehealth is going to be very helpful for tracking diseases and disease
trends (e.g., immunization, cancer registries). With new disease outbreaks,
telehealth provides new mechanisms to perform disease surveillance so
that data can be collected not just from the health care system, but also
pharmacies and grocery stores. These data can be combined with other
data (e.g., school absences) to pick up on new disease processes based on
clinical syndromes and community trends. Telehealth also provides a vari-
ety of ways to communicate effectively with stakeholders, including social
media. Mobilizing community partnerships can include partnerships with
the private sector, civic groups, nongovernmental organizations, faith com-
munities, and others to move entire communities toward health.
When talking about linking people to systems and coordinating care,
we can continue to talk about the 25 percent of the people who incur 75
percent of the costs of care, but the more interesting discussion may occur
when we overlay the most costly patients with those who have problems
impacted by the social determinants of health. For example, the communi-
ties that are challenged in being connected to health care may also be the
same communities that have food deserts, high levels of lead in the environ-
ment, high crime rates, or lack of repair to roads and other infrastructure.
These patients used to be called "noncompliant," but when we consider
why they are noncompliant, we find that many things are fundamentally
outside their functional control due to their socioeconomic status. From a
community perspective, if we can fix those factors, we can begin to improve
health. This partnership between the public health community and the
health care community could work together using all these data to develop
strong community programs or interventions that would make health im-
provements easier.
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STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES 121
A lot is happening with workforce development, including webinars,
video conferencing, and interactive journals and blogs, all of which are
trying to help improve skills. Additionally, much research is being done on
health systems and public health systems.
Social Media Tools
The American Public Health Association (APHA) has invested a lot
in social media tools due to their effectiveness in engaging communities.
For example, the APHA's Flu Near You campaign challenges individuals
to report how they feel on a weekly basis. This is an attempt to see if they
are able to detect whether the flu has entered a community based on self-
reported symptoms. If successful, this would allow authorities to send out
targeted information on flu prevention (e.g., distancing, hand washing,
vaccination) to populations at risk. Many other social media tools will be
effective as we go forward to further engage people on a population basis.
The Challenge of Paying for Population Health Information Technology
Paying for population health information technology is always a chal-
lenge. Obsolescence remains a problem, however. For example, before 9/11,
the public health system was still operating off rotary phones. Now, public
health systems are operating off the technologies that were put into place
after 9/11, but in many cases resources have not been available to upgrade
those technologies and so they have not been replaced. Additionally, ques-
tions persist about adequately measuring the return on investment for many
IT preventive activities, which makes the argument for continued invest-
ments challenging. This will continue to be a problem until the hard work
is done to show the fiscal as well as the health value for those technologies
Ideas to Advance the FieldBenjamin stated that first, we clearly need to
make strategic investments in population-based health information technol-
ogy and data systems. Second, we need to require appropriate linkages of
the public health and health care data systems. Finally, we need to demand
accountability for population-based outcomes from everybody. Many states
have remained at the bottom of the public health rankings for a long time,
yet this does not seem to have as much impact or related activism as rank-
ings for crime or education. Telehealth can not only help to document
health outcomes, but help to target solutions so that we can make a real
difference.
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122 THE ROLE OF TELEHEALTH
REACTION AND DISCUSSION
Moderator: Nina M. Antoniotti, Ph.D., M.B.A., R.N.
Marshfield Clinic
An open discussion followed the panelists' presentations. Antoniotti
noted that based on these presentations, we still need to document return
on investment in health care in general, we need to link and look at large
datasets, and we need to enhance the use of public policy. Audience mem-
bers were then able to give comments and ask questions of the panelists.
The following sections summarize the discussion session.
Interoperability and Support
One participant noted that while he agreed that the focus should not
be on the technology itself, he wondered why there is not more focus on
interoperability standards. The participant noted that his university has
been marketed to by companies that have interesting systems that are
proprietary and so will not work with other systems. Ferguson agreed that
interoperability has been a struggle from the beginning. He said that while
the ATA does not address interoperability directly, it is often addressed
through standards and guidelines or on the Industry Council. He added
that other groups are focused on this directly, such as standards for device
interactions. He also noted that some solutions are emerging, such as the
development of middle-ware that can communicate with any electronic
health record, and the use of direct messaging.
Collaboration
One participant questioned whether there was an opportunity to build
a shared support network for providers. Ferguson noted there are some na-
tional support centers, but they have not developed to the level they could,
and Ferguson thinks they will continue to develop.
Antoniotti asked each panelist to speak to how they are working
together to advance telehealth, and how others might work with them.
Morgan noted that the NRHA and the APHA have worked together on nu-
merous issues, but not telehealth, so this is a prime opportunity. He stated
that by the nature of the health care delivery process in rural America,
the NRHA and the ATA speak on a regular basis. Morgan further added
that they need to bring other organizations into the discussions as they
move forward. Benjamin concurred, adding that health educators are key
partners, especially with the amount of misinformation on the Internet. He
added that as an example, the APHA spent a lot of time responding quickly
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STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES 123
to misinformation about vaccines. Ferguson added that ATA also works
with many organizations, including other professional organizations as well
as disease-specific organizations.
Oral Health
One participant urged the audience to be inclusive of all types of health
care services. He stated that the disparities in oral health are far beyond
those in general health, and that telehealth has tremendous opportunity
for those who are unable to access the traditional oral health care system.
He further noted that California law was changed to replace the word
telemedicine with telehealth to be more inclusive, and the July 2012 is-
sue of the California Dental Association journal (a free download) was
devoted to describing the technologies and methodologies for teledentistry.
Antoniotti added that the Marshfield Clinic has used teledentistry since
2005. Ferguson responded that teledentistry has been occurring in Alaska
for many years. He described the dental health aide therapist program in
which people come in from villages, receive some training, and then return
to their homes to provide some dental care. Dental health aide therapists
are trained in telehealth, such as for taking images that are reviewed by
distant supervisors.
Licensure
One participant noted that licensure has been mentioned multiple times
as a challenge in telehealth. She added that as the cochair of a subcommit-
tee of the ATA, they invited physical therapy, occupational therapy, and
speech and hearing licensure boards to join their discussions about license
portability, and noted that the boards wondered why they had not previ-
ously been asked to participate. The participant urged everyone to invite
all parties that are involved in licensure in these discussions. She also noted
that it is not always the licensure boards that are the obstacles in licensure
challenges, but that the professional societies may be creating some of these
roadblocks. Ferguson referenced some changes, including that federal enti-
ties now do not require consultants to hold a license in the state in which
the patient is being served, and that the ATA board has voted to take this on
as a major policy issue. Benjamin stated that licensure issues will be driven
and resolved by bigger business interests like ACOs and integrated health
care systems that cross state lines.
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124 THE ROLE OF TELEHEALTH
Chronic Disease
One participant acknowledged that organizations need to be responsive
to their membership, but asked why they have not demonstrated more lead-
ership in managing chronic disease. Morgan responded that meeting agen-
das are based on topic submissions, and opined that this begs a much larger
question--namely, why are providers not placing importance on chronic
disease? Benjamin stated that the APHA does address chronic disease both
locally and internationally, but is focusing on primary prevention, the built
environment (e.g., food systems, transportation), and social determinants
of health as approaches to addressing chronic diseases. He noted that the
APHA is certainly involved in all the clinical preventive health services,
and they advocated for the $15 billion prevention fund of the ACA that
targets physical inactivity, nutrition, and tobacco. Benjamin added that
these areas are tied to the leading causes of death and disability (e.g., car-
diovascular disease, cancer, some injuries, chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease). Benjamin stated that we need to get people into healthier lifestyles
from earlier on in their lives to change communities and prevent much of
the chronic disease we are seeing. He further added that there has been an
enormous assault on the public health prevention fund as well as money for
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the APHA has been
focused on preserving the core funding for infrastructure and public health.
Ferguson noted that home telehealth and remote patient monitoring has
been the largest growing sector of the telehealth industry, and the ATA does
have a significant industry representation in its membership and is doing
everything it can within its scope to be involved in these issues.
