Putting #TelehealthFirst to Strengthen Communities & Provide Equitable Health
There are basic necessities every person deserves. Health Care should be one of them. Many organizations are already making strides to help individuals gain access to food and shelter. But for the times when the system fails and individuals see their health deteriorating because of this lack of access, or for the times in between the inevitable, health care should be there to lend a helping hand.
So what if we added health care in our fight toward social equity as well? Under-Served Health Resources (USHR), a non-profit organization, is founded on the mission of improving health care services for medically underserved populations in urban, rural and frontier communities, while increasing health care delivery options for providers and their patients. We believe care delivery through telehealth is one tool to improve health care services globally.
#TelehealthFirst is a movement that acknowledges that telehealth reduces barriers for all populations. Fundamentally, the movement seeks to promote telehealth as a primary option of care, so that care is always available when and where an individual may need it.
Not only do we want to fight for care to be available; we want to educate individuals on the possibilities available to them.
Besides affordability and accessibility, there are plenty of reasons to make telehealth the first access point to care.
Recent research suggests that black and hispanic adults over 65 are less likely to use telehealth than their white counterparts. However, that doesn’t mean health can’t meet them where they’re at.
“This has alarming implications for inadequate chronic disease management that may result in increased disparities in clinical outcomes as some patients disproportionately lose frontline access to primary care,” Dr. Sarah Nouri wrote in a commentary about her clinical experience during the pandemic.
Telehealth presents an opportunity to bridge this care gap. This article also suggests telehealth can help lessen disparities in these black and brown communities by transporting diversity and inclusion.
One study saw that black patients with COVID-19 symptoms were more likely to be diagnosed via telehealth in comparison to in-person visits. This suggests that the standardized way of telehealth can help eliminate some bias in care delivery. In the same vein Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), a modality of telehealth, collects patient data and automatically transmits this information to providers. Numbers can’t be and shouldn’t be ignored. In this way, RPM can help introduce objectivity and lessen any conscious or unconscious bias a clinician may have against an individual’s case.
But that’s not to say that care is blind. Cultural context and historical mistrust for underserved communities still need to be addressed in care delivery. However, telehealth may be able to help lessen some of this mistrust by promoting diversity in the workforce.
With telehealth, individuals may be able to see clinicians who resemble them, or have the option of cultural brokers and interpreters being readily available. All these combined, or standalone, help build trust and foster a mutually enriching relationship.
Putting telehealth first is a movement that is only going to gain traction. The USHR group recognizes that telehealth can pose barriers to those who do not have access to the equipment needed. That’s why #TelehealthFirst will be such an important movement, one that pushes policy makers to make this modality of care barrier-free.
