In the last few years, telehealth has been transforming at Duke. It has especially emerged as a critical technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a great option to bring medical care to patients while attempting to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 among patients, families, and clinicians.
During Friday morning's virtual Medicine Grand Rounds session, a group of telehealth professionals around Duke presented on the topic COVID-19 and the Telehealth Transformation at Duke. The panel consisted of:
- Alex Cho, MD, MBA - Clinical Director, DUMC Telehealth Office
- Donna Phinney, MSN, RN - Director, DUHS Telehealth Office
- Matt Roman, MHA, MMCI- Chief Digital Strategy Officer, DUHS
- Blake Cameron, MD, MBI - Co-Medical Director for Clinical Access, Department of Medicine)
- (Moderator) Ziad Gellad, MD, MPH - Associate Vice Chair, Ambulatory Practice, Department of Medicine
The speakers reviewed the history of telehealth in the U.S. healthcare system, described the implementation of telehealth at Duke, reviewed the outcomes of telehealth visits at Duke, and proposed a model of integration in clinical practice of the future.
"It is certainly essential, but many, many other things need to be in place before video visits can be done on the scale it has been"
"It is certainly essential, but many, many other things need to be in place before video visits can be done on the scale it has been -- from workflows to scheduling and registration to patient and provider education and support to billing," explains Dr. Alex Cho. "But the technology has to be adequate to the task too."
For more on changes and the future of telehealth integration at Duke, watch the full recording of the presentation online here. (Duke NetID and password are required.)