Fault lines in the healthcare system, exposed from the recent events of the past, showed us how important it is to embrace telemedicine for helping distribute health related services through IT technologies, quickly and efficiently.
While digitalisation has opened up unconventional methods that offer anonymity and convenience to access mental health care, there are several challenges the online health industry needs to address, before telemedicine becomes the norm.
Regulations
The regulations required to widely deploy telemedicine are still being developed.The vague set of rules and guidelines which are in place create ambiguity among the various online mental app providers, thereby casting doubts on the entire healthcare industry as a whole.
Government healthcare agencies, like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also impose barriers towards telemedicine. Another major hurdle is the section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act, which limits the use of telemedicine only to some specific providers.
While the reforms in virtual healthcare law need to be addressed from time to time, the problem is that the industry is far from ready to accept the challenges these rules bring.
To avoid complex lawsuits and penalties, the online mental healthcare providers should instead concentrate on raising a common platform to share information quickly and raise awareness among all concerned.
It is not that the regulatory authorities are hostile to telehealth, rather their regulations are complex and difficult to navigate.
Insurance
Closely tied with regulation, there was also a huge payment disparity between in-person care and telehealth, prior to the pandemic. The low reimbursement for telehealth was viewed as a disincentive by many online mental health sites in particular, which is the reason even today there are very few online therapy sites that accept insurance.
However, some private players and Medicaid programs came together to declare equality in payments for telehealth users. Thankfully, the concept of pay equity is on the rise today, thereby increasing the use of telemedicine services.
Security
Cybersecurity has been a bane of online healthcare systems for long, as it can cause leakage of sensitive and private personal health information. This can lead to patient harm, through disruption of healthcare and other adverse effects like discrimination and reputation loss.
Online mental healthcare companies should ensure that any file or data stored on a device should be automatically encrypted. Better still, once the user leaves the app, all sensitive data collected by an app should be deleted and the user section securely terminated.
Integration
Despite the many advantages telemedicine boasts of, it has not been able to integrate with the health system as fast as other new technologies have. The main reason for this is the constant resistance on the part of the service providers who haven’t worked with such a system before and are not inclined to start, unless trained properly.
Technology
For the online health industry to remain viable, certain technological equipment needs to be in place for all stakeholders to exchange vital information with each other. The main limitations in telemedicine practice occur due to the technology the patient uses.
Since all the patients may not have the required technology or same devices with minimal requirements, the photos and other data sent to their therapist may be of such a quality making it tough for the specialist to interpret the problem.
Connectivity
For supporting telehealth and exchanging health related information it is important for the whole country to have adequate, ubiquitous and affordable broadband connectivity. This is necessary to provide easy and quick access to quality healthcare to individuals at the right time and the right place.
Yet, significant gaps are found in accessing reliable internet connections, especially in the undeserving and rural populations. Apart from education, training and economic development, rural communities face lots of hardship to access telehealth due to poor broadband connection.
All apps are not created equal
Mental health apps are the new norm in the healthcare industry as compared to traditional therapy. Scores of developers have entered the market to make a fast buck, as approval from the FDA is not necessary, as the case is with over the counter medications.
The result is all apps are not based on evidence based practices and only a fraction of them have done research to support their use.The challenge to separate the good from the bad is another barrier the online healthcare industry has to overcome.
Final say
Over a period of time, it is sure that both the telemedicine industry and the federal and state agencies will work together to overcome the challenges faced by telehealth. While this may not happen overnight, it will be commonplace sooner than later. And when that happens, the U.S. healthcare industry will have a reason to smile.
