What Does Telehealth Look Like After the Pandemic?

Jennifer Humbert, AVP of telemedicine development and virtual inpatient monitoring, Ochsner CareConnect 360

When the pandemic blocked the normal channels of consumer access to healthcare, physicians’ groups, hospitals, and health systems around the country scrambled to establish or expand their telehealth capabilities.

The question is, what happens next?

What is the roadmap to scale and improve telehealth while the pandemic still rages, and what is the plan when the pandemic subsides? Both providers and patients have gotten accustomed to video visits, but where will telehealth fit in the larger scheme of things, and will payment parity continue?

“Fortunately, at Ochsner we had a very well-established telehealth program going into the COVID crisis,” says Jennifer Humbert, AVP of telemedicine development and virtual inpatient monitoring at Ochsner CareConnect 360.

“We had platforms, programs, and infrastructure in place to provide services in the inpatient setting, ambulatory clinic setting, and in-home setting. We saw a rapid adoption and a quick shift in our strategy. This is now first-order change.” But ramping up wasn’t easy. Initially there was staff resistance to the enormous changes, and technical challenges due to the increased call volume.

“We had to beef up the infrastructure that we had,” Humbert notes. “And we’re still working on what that perfect technical support solution looks like.”

Post-pandemic, she says, “We’re planning within our organization to fall within that 20 percent virtual mark. We’re actively looking at our market data to understand how our market responded during the crisis and how they’re going to respond post-crisis.”

Read the full story now for more insights from Humbert and others: Hackensack Meridian Health and Ochsner Health Share Their Game Plan for Virtual Care Now and Post-Pandemic

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