Health organizations rely on high-speed broadband connections for critical applications like telemedicine and remote care management of chronic illnesses. With the expansion of 4G LTE networks and other advances in technology, clinicians are able to identify issues before they become a crisis that require hospitalization, and reduce healthcare and operating costs. It also gives patients the opportunity to take charge of their health.
"A bad end-user experience is when things go slowly or are unstable. That makes telemedicine difficult to adopt. That's what we don't want," said Arthur Lane, associate director of healthcare strategy and new market development at Verizon Wireless. "We need these solutions to work. We need something to help fight the escalation of cost, improve consumer and clinician satisfaction, enhance overall interactions and help supply care to a growing and aging populace. How can we make this available to everyone? Reliable and secure high-speed connections."
Lane shared the four ways leveraging these high-speed broadband connections can improve the Triple Aim of increasing quality, decreasing cost and increasing patient satisfaction.
1. Virtual care
The focus of virtual care is to use connected technologies to create a clinic-like display in the palm of a patient's hand. From phones, tablets or computers, patients will be able to have a full visit with a clinician to help diagnose and treat their condition. This gives patients the ability to conduct healthcare when and where they want. "Patients no longer have to wait 20 days to see their primary care physician or even leave the comfort of their home if they're in pain or are contagious to spend time in a waiting room," remarked Lane.
2. Use of high-res video
High-resolution video allows for an accurate initial patient-clinician experience. Access to a mature network and powerful LTE-speed bandwidths help to manage telemedicine applications and programs used more seamlessly across a system. Glitches, bad connections or slow loading means time spent waiting. That can be detrimental to both a patient's health and a hospital's budget. Provision and outreach to patients can be done easier and at a lower cost then before.
3. Managing chronic conditions
"In a common disease management world, we need scalability," said Lane. There are not enough nurses to deploy across the population at the right price. Diseases are growing exponentially, so organizations need to curate a more proactive system. By monitoring chronic conditions with biometric devices, clinicians can look at real-time, self-reported information. "For example," Lane said, "physicians can tell if a patient has checked their glucose levels. They can then instruct them on how to correct a bad reading, or can connect that patient to a nearby clinician for further assistance. This can be done through voice and video, but to manage that transaction seamlessly you need a faster network."
4. Security
Stable, high-power networks provide an environment where information is secure for both the patient and the clinician. Such networks help to keep healthcare organizations stay compliant within their regulations, while also allowing for big data to be analyzed quickly and in real time. "Personal information by way of video shouldn't be done on free, downloadable applications everyone is using or on unsecured, slow networks either. They should be on healthcare-specific conference call programs," explained Lane.