Essay Example on Telehealth: Quality Healthcare Delivery via ICT Systems

Introduction

The concept of telehealth has been severally debated, and as such, it has come to be recognized as a growing concept in developed and developing economies. Specifically, information and communication technology (ICT) continues to play a critical role in the promotion of the provision of quality health care for individuals and at the community level. ICT systems have enabled the delivery of healthcare across geographic distance through the concept of telehealth. The primary reason for the introduction of telehealth was to facilitate the provision of decentralized health services to individuals who are unable to physically visit a health care facility (Kruse et al., 2017). Besides, the integration of ICT into the existing healthcare systems has revolutionized the provision of health care services in numerous ways, although it is a challenging undertaking. The primary objective of this project is to identify the critical challenges associated with the promotion of telehealth implementation and advancing its adoption within existing health care service provision models.

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Project Justification

Although the US enjoys advanced ICT infrastructure, other impending limitations have affected the full implementation of telehealth systems. As such, this has continued to affect the desire to reach every patient in need of best health care services. The reasoning is that they cannot get similar services to their counterparts who physically visit a health care facility or can afford to call a doctor on location. Besides, integrating telehealth into the mainstream health care system has proved to be a key challenge.

For example, the issue of reimbursements has been largely affected. Existing medical insurance providers have not been able to fully expand their resources to capture the services offered under telehealth. Further, the issue of effectively analyzing data collected from the telehealth systems is still lacking. It is still not clear on how to set-up teams that will analyze the collected data and how it will be shared among practitioners and clinicians.

Deliverables

It is essential to underline that the results of this project will be for the benefit of the implementors of the telehealth program. The implementers will include; the respective state and local governments, health facilities, and individual physicians and clinicians. The project intends to give sufficient evidence on existing inadequacies that are negatively affecting the effective implementation and adoption of the telehealth program (Harris, Roussel, Thomas & Dearman, 2015). Ultimately, after the identification of the challenges, it is expected that users of the information will operationalize the recommendations.

Constraints

The project will face several limitations, especially in terms of the geographical area to cover and in terms of available resources to operationalize the plan. Further, there is the risk of failing to capture al the variables that are currently affecting the implementation and adoption of the telehealth program. Finally, the fact that the project will rely on secondary data is likely to limit the research questions because only interprable data will be captured.

Assumptions

The project assumes that the issues affecting the implementation and adoption of the telehealth program are standardized across all states in the US. In addition, there is an assumption that the outcomes of these limitations are having similar effects on patients. Lastly, it has been assumed that the findings and recommendations of the project will have a similar outcome in any jurisdiction they are used within the US.

Research Method and Approach

For the purpose of the study, a mixed-method research approach will be used. For this reason, both the interpretive and descriptive research approach will be employed to understand the underlying issues, provide insights into the context of the, and to unearth prevailing trends in opinion and thoughts of various stakeholders. Further, semi-structured techniques including depth interviews with individuals, representatives of healthcare institutions, and even government officials will be applied in this project to identify possible explanations to underlying problem (Harris, Roussel, Thomas & Dearman, 2015). In particular, the research method employed will target to cover all factors that the researcher has identified as the problems.

Level of Risk and the Frequency of the Problem

According to existing studies, telehealth is operational in the US, and hence, the current project only seeks to identify those factors that are restricting it from becoming operational fully. For instance, the gaps within reimbursements need to be ironed out (Dearholt & Dang, 2017). From a legal perspective, it is the right of the patient to be reimbursed the amount charged, and since this is becoming a hard goal to realize, a new approach must be introduced.

Conclusion

Based on the available information and data, the current project lends itself as a quality improvement project. As earlier stated, the telehealth program is already operational in the US, and hence, the only issue is on how the program can be improved. As such, while undertaking the project, the primary objective was to identify solutions that can be used to iron out the emerging challenges during the implementation of the project. Also, the fact that users (patients) were used as a source of data is an indication that the project was targeting to act on raised feedback and concerns about the efficiency of the project.

References

Dearholt, S., & Dang, D. (2017). Johns Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice: Models and guidelines. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International

Harris, J., Roussel, L., Thomas, P., & Dearman, C. (2015). Project planning and management (pp. 1-225). Burlington, Massachusetts, United States: Jones & Bartlett Publishers

Kruse, C., Krowski, N., Rodriguez, B., Tran, L., Vela, J., & Brooks, M. (2017). Telehealth and patient satisfaction: a systematic review and narrative analysis. BMJ Open, 7(8), e016242. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016242