Telehealth in Practice:a panel discussionApril 2013

Our panel - BunburySpecialist

– Associate Professor Rob Will

General Practitioner – Dr Mike Civil

Nursing & Midwifery Telehealth Consortia – Ms Lesley Pugh

Practice Manager – Ms Debbie McConnell

Not every consultation will be suitable for a video consultation and it is important to ensure that a number of key areas are considered, when planning this extension to normal general practice services.

The Standards for General Practices offering Video Consultation aims to cover the important areas and to give practices a framework that will enable video consultations to be carried out in a safe and professional manner.

Areas such as:• Patient safety• Suitability for video Consultation over Face to Face• Confidentiality• Privacy• Training and education

Areas (continued) such as:• Providing Clinical Support, responsibilities• Issues surrounding consent (for all three parties)• Informing patients about the service that you are

offering to patients (Video Consultations)• Seeking feedback from patients• Importance of building validity to the value of video

consultations. • Managing risk• Concept of “Dual Care Consultation”• Issues around coordination of care• Referral letters and their place with video

consultations• Communication with patients, making sure they are

fully informed of issues pertaining to video consultations

• Verifying the identity of all parties in the video consultation process

• Staff training • End-to-end quality assurance • End-to-end security requirements • End-to-end privacy requirements • Internet connectivity • The National Broadband Network• Upload and download data speed • Network and video quality• Video consultation technology solutions• Types of video consultation technologies – an entry-level guide• Hardware video quality• Audio quality• Interoperability• Issues to consider when selecting technologies• Practice environment and equipment• Audio devices for computer video consultation solutions• Video devices for computer video consultation solutions

RACGP Telehealth Resources (continued)

• Video Consultation Booking Checklist• Video Etiquette for Clinicians• Video Consultation Information for Patients• Video Consultation Patient Survey

• 1441 MBS Video consultation item numbers in the 2011 to 2012 Financial Year (first year of item No:)

• 357 of these done at Stirk Medical Group• Patient feedback on 233 of these consultations• Specialists

• 2 x Rheumatologists• Endocrinologist• Sleep Physician

  Strongly Disagree

Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Void

I received the same standards of care from my video consultation as I would have from a face to face consultation

  

2.14%

  

1.28%

  

5.15%

  

59.65%

  

30.9%

  

0.88%

The video consultation was convenient for me (saved time money etc)

  

2.14%

  

2.14%

  

7.29%

  

46.78%

  

39.48%

  

2.17%

I felt prepared for the video consultation

 

3.86% 

4.29% 

22.74% 

43.77% 

24.46% 

0.88%

I would be willing to participate in another video consultation if my doctor considered it appropriate

  

3.4%

  

1.27%

  

2.12%

  

57.02%

  

36.17%

  

0.02%

.

Telehealth useful resources: Resources

MBS Online - Medicare Benefits Schedule (www.mbsonline.gov.au/telehealth) MBS Online – “Connecting health services with the future: Guidance on security and

privacy issues for clinicians” (www.mbsonline.gov.au/telehealth)Medical Board of Australia “Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors

in Australia” (http://www.medicalboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Policies.aspx) Medical Board of Australia Guidelines: Technology-based patient consultations

(http://www.medicalboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Policies.aspx) RACGP Computer and information security standards (4th edition)

(www.racgp.org.au/ehealth) RACGP Standards, Guidelines, Templates and Facts Sheets for Telehealth in General Practice

(www.racgp.org.au/telehealth) RANZCP Professional Practice Standards and Guidelines for Telepsychiatry

at www.ranzcp.org/Resources/Telehealth-in-psychiatry.aspx

Telehealth in Practice

• What do you use telehealth for?

• Examples of when it has worked well

• Benefits• For patients• For clinicians

Telehealth in Practice

• Choosing to offer video consultations over face-to-face

• Business viability• Financial incentives• MBS items

• Issues to consider

Telehealth in Practice

• Barriers to uptake

• Lessons learnt

• What do patients think of telehealth?

Telehealth in Practice

• How to get started? • Internet connection• Web cam• Link to specialists • Provider directory www.ehealth.acrrm.org.au

ACRRM Telehealth Provider Directory

Questions???

Telehealth in Practice

• Take home message

Telehealth Resources

Websites Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine www.ehealth.acrrm.org.au

Royal Australian College of General Practitionerswww.racgp.org.au/your-practice/e-health/telehealth

Rural Health West www.ruralhealthwest.com.au/workforce-support/telehealth