Accessibility has briefly gone up due to telemedicine but might go back done if regulators don’t protect it. However, I think the consolidation that technology has allowed or forced has actually net decreased accessibility through higher prices.
Cosmos - 3 years ago
Customer Convenience is the clear winner of your poll because of the explosion of telemedicine during COVID and due to significant improvements to the patient portal over the past ~5 years. Anyone else remember during Meaningful Use when hospitals struggled to get 5% of their population to use the portal? Back then, when it was just a digital copy of your paper discharge summary, nobody used it. Now that there are actual features (pay your bills, book your next appointment, message your doctor, fill out questionnaires, etc.) it seems everyone's using it.
David L Meyers - 3 years ago
The verdict is either negative or uncertain on most if not all the areas in the question as to the NET impact. Generally, where there have been improvements, concomitant and significant adverse consequences have also occurred. For example, COVID-19 forced some improvements in accessibility via telemedicine, but problems related to documentation, consent, data security and other issues were exacerbated or unresolved. Similarly, the EHR has offered many advantages over paper records, yet its drawbacks are legion and the adverse impact on physicians and other practitioners has been dramatic and unanticipated, favorable KLAS surveys notwithstanding, The promise of better patient access to their records is still largely unfulfilled. Interoperability? Don't even ask.
Michael Liebman - 3 years ago
unfortunately technology is frequently. developed, marketed and consumed in spite of the fact that it is not addressing the actual problem/need/challenge, only a developer's limited perspective of the real world issue
Accessibility has briefly gone up due to telemedicine but might go back done if regulators don’t protect it. However, I think the consolidation that technology has allowed or forced has actually net decreased accessibility through higher prices.
Customer Convenience is the clear winner of your poll because of the explosion of telemedicine during COVID and due to significant improvements to the patient portal over the past ~5 years. Anyone else remember during Meaningful Use when hospitals struggled to get 5% of their population to use the portal? Back then, when it was just a digital copy of your paper discharge summary, nobody used it. Now that there are actual features (pay your bills, book your next appointment, message your doctor, fill out questionnaires, etc.) it seems everyone's using it.
The verdict is either negative or uncertain on most if not all the areas in the question as to the NET impact. Generally, where there have been improvements, concomitant and significant adverse consequences have also occurred. For example, COVID-19 forced some improvements in accessibility via telemedicine, but problems related to documentation, consent, data security and other issues were exacerbated or unresolved. Similarly, the EHR has offered many advantages over paper records, yet its drawbacks are legion and the adverse impact on physicians and other practitioners has been dramatic and unanticipated, favorable KLAS surveys notwithstanding, The promise of better patient access to their records is still largely unfulfilled. Interoperability? Don't even ask.
unfortunately technology is frequently. developed, marketed and consumed in spite of the fact that it is not addressing the actual problem/need/challenge, only a developer's limited perspective of the real world issue