1. Using Telehealth for Hospice Reauthorization Visits: Results of a Quality Improvement Analysis
- Author
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Michael McHale, Jennifer Dickman Portz, Kira Elsbernd, Melodie Santodomingo, Susan L. Moore, and John Massone
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Quality management ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,telehealth ,Pneumonia, Viral ,education ,Clinical Neurology ,Telehealth ,clinical decision making ,Prior Authorization ,Article ,Betacoronavirus ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Patient satisfaction ,Clinical decision making ,Intervention (counseling) ,medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Prior authorization ,Pandemics ,health care economics and organizations ,General Nursing ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,Public health ,COVID-19 ,Quality Improvement ,Telemedicine ,Hospice Care ,Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine ,hospice ,Patient Satisfaction ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Family medicine ,Neurology (clinical) ,Coronavirus Infections ,hospice reauthorization ,business ,Delivery of Health Care - Abstract
Background Increasing hospice need, a growing shortage of hospice providers, and concerns about in-person services because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) require hospices to innovate care delivery. Measures This project compared outcomes between hospice reauthorization visits conducted via telehealth and in person. After each visit, providers, patients, and caregivers completed telehealth acceptance surveys, and providers recorded reauthorization recommendations. Intervention Providers conducted 88 concurrent in-person and telehealth visits between June and November 2019. Outcomes No statistically significant differences in reauthorization recommendations were found between telehealth and in-person visits. Satisfaction with telehealth was high; 88% of patients/caregivers and 78% of providers found telehealth services as effective as in-person visits. Conclusions/Lessons Learned Results indicate that telehealth can successfully support clinical decision making for hospice reauthorization. These findings show telehealth to be reliable and acceptable for certain types of hospice care even before COVID-19, which emphasizes its importance both during and after the current public health emergency.
- Published
- 2020
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