How Blockchain Capabilities Advance Data Sharing and Benefit Virtual Care
HIMSS
While telehealth has been evolving for some years, it has lacked the impetus to achieve significant adoption.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a provider typically needed to see the patient in an in-person visit, which was, in part, dictated by reimbursement policies of the payer (e.g., difference in reimbursement between an in-person and a telemedicine visit), and orchestrating the logistical efforts that the telemedicine visit was secure and private.
However, COVID-19 created the necessity to increase virtual care to facilitate social distancing, and caused healthcare resources to be reallocated to treat COVID-19 patients, limiting access to routine diagnostic imaging procedures and preventative monitoring services for non-COVID-19 patients.
In response, new telehealth services were rapidly deployed to provide clinical...