In an age where most services are available at the click of a button, the process of seeing a doctor can seem a throwback to a bygone age.  Appointments are usually several days hence, and you only get to see them by taking time out of your day to visit the surgery, where you’re usually forced to wait for some time as the doctors struggle to keep their schedule.  When you do get to see the doctor, the visit is increasingly short and unsatisfactory.

It’s a process that’s ripe for disruption, but is telemedicine the silver bullet?  A recently published paper explores the progress made by telehealth platforms, and the challenges still faced.

“Many health system executives, clinicians, staff, and patients understand the potential benefits of telehealth, but implementing it in a big health system is difficult to do and takes a lot of coordination,” the authors say.

Challenges to overcome

The first of these challenges is a story many technologists will appreciate, and involves convincing executives of the value of telehealth, and specifically how it fits in with the wider goals of the business.  This is especially important with telehealth as the up-front investment is considerable, and the returns on that investment may take some time in materializing.

There are also issues around scaling up pilot projects, as many lack the resources to do so successfully.  This has resulted in some of those covered by the paper prioritizing certain areas for support at the expense of others.  Securing the buy-in to ensure you get those resources is often very hard, especially when many healthcare providers have a large, and often sceptical, workforce.

Patients are another key stakeholder group, and the paper argues that they need to be better informed about the capabilities of telehealth platforms and how seeing their doctor can be simplified.  The authors explain how some providers have created dedicated roles to help patients make this adaptation.

The last challenge is in measuring the outcomes from telehealth.  Some of the more innovative stakeholders, such as the Michigan Telehealth Research Incubator have directly studied the cost, quality and patient access benefits of telehealth, and the general message is that failure is not something you should be worried about.

“The challenges that you’re going to face are the challenges that everyone else is facing. You’re not on an island; even major, forward-thinking health systems are running into the same issues. If you believe, like I do, that telehealth will be fully integrated into standard clinical care in the next 5-10 years, it’s a worthwhile endeavor to be involved in,” the authors conclude.