Many industries have scrambled to become remotely accessible since Covid-19 entered the picture and demanded a renewed push to integrate technology into our daily routines in new ways. This is not just for our social and work lives, but for our healthcare. 

So what does post Covid-19 Telemedicine look like? Is it practical? And does it support personalized care?

What has changed with telemedicine pre-Covid-19 to now?  

Let’s talk about supply and demand. Social distancing practices created the need for alternatives to in-office visits. Pre-pandemic, Telemedicine existed as a fringe option, often unsupported because of the way it was being reimbursed.

Telehealth claims in the Southeast grew 6038.5% from April 2019 to April 2020 with the bulk of the increase happening during stay-at-home orders, and claim lines have increased 4,347% nationally as of March 2020. 

Often, services in the healthcare field are influenced by legislation; now, demand is forcing legislations to adapt and support the rising wave of need for Telehealth.

Which Practitioners are Using Telemedicine? 

Everyone from dentists, to therapists, to specialists like cardiologists and endocrinologists have made their expertise available via Telemedicine. 

Physical therapists use it to coach patients on proper form for their prescribed exercises. Psychologists use it to continue communicating with their patients. Even general practitioners and primary care physicians whose offices had no virtual practices in place have invited their patients to join new virtual healthcare programs. 

Why should I Try it? Will I still Receive Quality Care? 

High-risk patients like the elderly will benefit greatly from Telemedicine. Consider how eliminating transportation and waiting rooms alone reduces the risk of exposure for patients with low-immunity or mobility restrictions. 

Virtual care doesn’t just benefit special populations, it helps families by saving them on childcare or taking a half-day off work in financially-tight times, and even extends to non-profit clinics where Telehealth programs consistently reduce patient wait times and increase access to health services for the underprivileged in need of care.

The more Telehealth is integrated, the more obvious it becomes that convenience contributes to general health and wellness in a way that hasn’t really been considered before now.

For doctors and practitioners, Telemedicine and virtual care enable them to see more patients in a day, and promotes the safety of their medical staff; less cleaning of the office, less sick patients coming into contact with one another, and a decrease in the spreading of germs. 

Frictionless Telehealth

Healthcare facilities will always need physical locations. Telemedicine can’t completely replace the need for in-person physical care but by bringing greater access to these new lines of communication, a smarter approach to patient care can emerge and access to care can evolve.

Think back on your own personal history of medical visits. How often did you spend hours waiting in a crowded lobby retracing the puzzles in Highlights magazine, or reading People from 2007? Patrick Dempsey will always be 2007’s, “Star of the Year”, but reading about Dr. Mc Dreamy while waiting hours to see your own Doctor – only to leave after a 4-minute visit with a prescription note – no longer needs to be reality. 

Increasing and supporting virtual and remote practices will lead to a frictionless Telehealth system that benefits both patients and practitioners.

Why Have Doctors Resisted Telemedicine before Now? 

Short answer? They may not have been.

A lot of patients have been asking for access to Telemedicine for years, and many doctors were already acknowledging the benefits of reducing risk to infected patients while increasing communication and building relationships with all patients in their care. 

So what was the hang up? Legislation and Insurance coverage.

In 1997, Telehealth became officially recognized as reimbursable but only in particular circumstances for extremely rural patients. Even then, the patient had to drive to the nearest clinic and receive Telehealthcare in a professional space to be eligible for reimbursement. 

2019 saw an increase in accessibility to Telemedicine for the Medicare population but to put this in perspective, just last year, less than 1 in 10 Americans were even using Telehealth services and now policies and practitioners are struggling to adapt.

The New Healthcare Technology: Building a Better System 

Just like the rise of social media in the mid 2000s, there will be many new Telehealth platforms making their market debut in the coming months. Here’s what you should be looking for:

• A system made specifically for healthcare 
• Easy-to-use for patients of all ages and abilities. No downloads required
• A predictive system that is integrated with the rest of your patient care

Primavera is an easy to use, secure Healthcare Technology built by professionals in the Healthcare industry. Primavera combines a variety of services from care coordination; transportation arrangement, and intuitive case management. The platform is easy to use for patients, as simple as FaceTime, and requires no external apps. 

The goal is to make patient care Easier Together through an all-encompassing Telehealth Suite with advanced data metrics that help you prioritize and communicate within your practice.

Don’t hesitate to embrace this new wave of accessibility and evolution in patient care. Schedule a demo today!

Telehealth is a digital healthcare service which provides remote access to care. It has gained widespread popularity during COVID-19 as it supplements medical visits for vulnerable, aging and disadvantaged populations. The rise in this technology is a global industry trend with the potential to become permanent.

Benefits of Telehealth

For many years, patients have demanded this kind of access to their physicians. Some people cannot make it to doctor’s appointments due to transportation issues and work conflicts, while others see these visits as inconvenient, expensive and time-consuming. The benefits of telehealth are clear: it saves time and money, decreases the chances of getting sick, eliminates the need to take off work, improves engagement and is easily accessible. 

Despite the benefits, certain demographics are less inclined to adopt telehealth than others. Seniors, for example, are the least likely to use it even though they are the most at risk.

The following are statistics from the Better Medicare Alliance survey conducted in May 2020: 

• 24% of seniors used telehealth during the pandemic
• Only 52% said they’d be comfortable using this service
• 30% said they’d be uncomfortable
• 18% were undecided

The majority of the older generation is hesitant to try telehealth because they are intimidated by the learning curve. While 65 year olds may have a slight upper hand, those in their 70s and 80s are often not tech savvy. They are already in an unfavorable position due to the pandemic, so the added stress of new technology makes their situation even more frustrating. 

A clunky telehealth system interferes with the positive relationship between physician and patient, which relies on good communication. Telehealth systems that are not user friendly have created more barriers to care and frustrated patients. In the digital world, people don’t like extra steps. Another app to download, page to navigate or form to fill out could be the difference between getting care and giving up. 

Frictionless Telehealth

Primavera created a frictionless telehealth solution designed to solve these problems. With this platform, patients and physicians enjoy an intuitive, user friendly experience. Seniors are empowered to take control of their own healthcare. Those who cannot drive, don’t own a car or have to work around their caregiver’s schedule have instant access to care. They gain peace of mind with the ability to communicate with their physician immediately rather than having to wait. All patients on the call can hop on without ever needing to download an app.

Primavera Connect Telehealth makes life easier for physicians and simplifies their work. The telehealth platform keeps all data under one roof so doctors don’t have to toggle between systems with no functionality. Telehealth works seamlessly with Case Management and Data Analytics, and physicians can easily loop in colleagues, specialists, translators and caregivers. This provides a way to communicate with caregivers when they are outside of the home, and streamlines collaboration for physicians who need to consult other doctors about care plans. Additionally, safety and security is not an issue with NLS (Next Level Security).

Connect Telehealth Features

The full list of Connect Telehealth features and benefits is extensive, and includes:

• No app download required by patients
• High Resolution Video
• Send invites to session via SMS
• Built-in Scheduler for Providers
• Intuitive Dashboard with Usage Analytics
• Available in Multiple Languages
• Seamless Integration with the entire software suite
• Add Multiple Participants to a session including a caregiver or colleague
• Manage your patient population by program priority or diagnosis
• Remote Monitoring Option for Devices
• Audit Trails for Transparency
• SSL Encrypted Connections
• HIPAA Compliant
• Get up and running in minutes!

Primavera takes the challenges of traditional telehealth and turns them upside down to meet the most basic patient and physician needs. When it comes to industry trends in telehealth, the most important factors are cost-efficiency and a user friendly platform. 

Have you struggled with the expense of either developing or implementing a telehealth platform before? We know cost is a salient consideration, which is why Connect Telehealth was designed to be affordable for all. You gain peace of mind knowing it’s affordable for your business, and can assure patients that it’s more than manageable for them as well. For those patients who are still hesitant to give a new technology a try, start the conversation and highlight the benefits. Appointments scheduled via Connect Telehealth give the freedom, autonomy and accessibility you deserve.

Primavera’s platform is user friendly and accessible to everyone. It enables healthcare providers to deliver quality virtual care when in-person visits are not possible or not advisable. Because the system is incredibly intuitive, there is very little training or onboarding required. Communicating with your patients has never been easier. You can call us and be up and running the same day! 

Join us in transforming the office visit. Reach out to one of our healthcare experts and get a demo today. With Primavera, telehealth is easier together.

August 3, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Healthcare Software Company Announces Telehealth Platform Designed For Non-Tech Savvy Users

Developed for medical use and for the non-technical user there is NO APP download needed for patients. Patient-Doctor communication is now “easier together” with Primavera.

South Florida-based healthcare software company, Primavera, launches the latest in telehealth, a platform made specifically for medical use that does not require an app to function. During the pandemic, physicians found the need to communicate, now more than ever, with their most high risk and fragile patients. Typically these patients were either senior, dependent on others, or did not have access to technology. Frustrations with other telehealth platforms lie with the use of multiple systems, downloading apps and the requirements for each step. The process can be arduous for those who are not tech savvy. This stress takes away from the appointment itself and, in some cases, the technical barriers make the appointment inaccessible.

Tired of using third-party video conferencing tools made for the board room, the Primavera team created Connect Telehealth specifically for the medical community with a focus on ease-of-use – made for the 65 and older age groups. It is the first frictionless telehealth platform created. It features high resolution video, options for both voice and video, invitations to sessions sent through SMS, available in multiple languages, built-in scheduler, intuitive dashboard with analytics, seamless integration, ability to add multiple participants including caregivers or colleagues, remote monitoring option for devices, and audit trails for administrators. To address safety concerns, the Primavera platform adheres to best practices for HIPAA compliance. To take security a step further, deter and prevent cyber intrusion, and protect data, there are strict internal procedures for access control to patient data. This is the Primavera NLS, Next Level Security. 

Primavera’s COO, Rolian Ruiz , said about the Connect Telehealth announcement, “Telehealth is a fantastic way for doctors and patients to connect. Unfortunately, the patients that needed it the most did not have a realistic mechanism to connect. We felt the absolute need to create a system that works for everyone – the seniors, the low income, and those with inherent issues accessing care. Our company’s solutions were already geared to managing this population and this was a natural extension. Working together with the providers, we are able to make their work easier and more productive.” Connect Telehealth technology is a part of a total healthcare software suite where managing your practice is now “easier together” with Primavera. It also includes data analytics, case management, complete member records, administration and scheduling. Each part was developed by actual users in need of simple and streamlined software. Healthcare practices utilizing the Primavera platform are showing better retention and better results. Primavera was developed for MSOs and Primary Care Physicians and then expanded to a wide range of specialties including Cardiologists, Dentists, Endocrinologists, etc. to manage their patient population and multiple payers like Medicare, BCBS, Humana, and other regional health insurance payers. 

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About: Primavera is an integrated healthcare software suite created to simplify data into actionable intelligence improving patient outcomes and overall practice performance. The Primavera team, over the last two decades creating, developing, and managing complex IT architecture and relationship database systems, honed their skills constructing innovative tools to empower users for the best outcomes. 

Recently, in the last few years, the team turned its creative focus to find a healthcare solution for the all-too-common information gap. Together, the team consisting of technologists, practitioners and healthcare business executives, created a revolutionary healthcare operating system, called Primavera, to transform the patient-doctor-payor relationship across the care continuum. 

This information-rich environment creates efficiencies and transparency to align goals and create better healthcare and financial outcomes. Simply put, Primavera has the clinical and financial tools to run your practice at peak performance.  

For more information on Primavera, visit Primavera.care  

Schedule a demo today.

The change from a fee-for-service model to a full risk model can seem daunting. After all, it is quite different in many ways. There is peace-of-mind in the fact that many organizations have done this previously and with great success.

Outside of the change in the medical organization itself, there have been efforts for many years to modernize federal laws, payment methods and incentives to benefit a value-based model. You have the technological tools and examples of many to emulate, improve upon, and to set up your medical or dental group for success.

Healthcare Industry Spending

The inefficiencies in the American healthcare system have been analyzed by countless experts in recent years. For example, the Health System Tracker experts charted the GDP per capita and health consumption spending per capita, 2017 to find that, “Relative to the size of its wealth, the U.S. spends a disproportionate amount on healthcare.” Lawmakers have been looking for new ways to cut spending and improve healthcare outcomes for quite some time.

The fee-for-service model that was once attractive to physicians made sense. You get paid for the work you do. In the end, this healthcare model created a misplaced incentive that has been linked to physician burnout, increased spending, and has not shown direct improvement in healthcare outcomes.

For those who have made the change to the Full-Risk Capitation model, the consensus among physicians is a feeling of freedom. Many doctors will tell you that although the value-based model is not perfect, it has been nice to not have to “play the games” to get paid for services rendered.

Additionally, the focus on prevention and collaboration across the care continuum is fulfilling. Instead of reviewing your monthly reports for how many services rendered, it is rewarding to see the numbers show positive healthcare trends for your patient population. It is well-documented that prevention and early detection are effective at improving patient healthcare outcomes.

Hospital Readmission Reduction Program

In 2012-2013, the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program was created by CMS, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to help mitigate the issue of very expensive readmissions to the hospital. A large number of patients were spending more time and money in the hospital than they were with their doctors for preventive care and follow-ups. To improve the patient outcomes and keep them out of the hospital for unnecessary visits, care teams implemented better post-discharge plans with a higher touch point of communication. Experts predict we will see more of these types of programs across multiple payors in the coming years. Every payor has been and will continue to look for new ways to reduce unnecessary costs when possible.

Managing the Transition from FFS to Full Risk Model

Understanding the Healthcare Metrics

First things first, you need to know if the numbers will work. If you cannot stay in business, then this won’t benefit anyone. Begin by understanding your KPIs: Funding PMPM, Inpatient/Outpatient Claims PMPM, Medical Loss Ratio (MLR), Percentage of Generic Rx, Profitability Driver (MRA), etc. These basic statistics will be your new measures for your organization’s financial success.

Using the Metrics to Effect Real Change

Second, you must understand how to effect change in these numbers. By understanding which patients are at higher risk or higher utilizers, you can make meaningful change for both the practice and the patient. Alerts, notifications, industry benchmarks, and real-time data available through data mapping with insurance companies are all key to managing a full risk capitation model. This may mean a culture shift focused on measuring the true value of a procedure and weighing the full cost (emotional stress and physical stress) to the patient before recommending.

Better Communication Tools

Third, your care teams must have access to easy communication with your patients and other medical professionals on the care team. Emailing and personal phone calls will not go away, but additional tools like telehealth need to fit seamlessly into the necessary day-to-day activities.

Tip: During this transition time, it is important to modernize your healthcare software to anticipate your new needs and overcome old hurdles.

Care Team with High Touch Points for Clinical Integration

Additionally, you need a great care team to rely upon to give comprehensive care and a good patient experience. For the full risk healthcare model to be financially successful, the healthcare outcomes must be good. For the healthcare outcomes to be good, your team must be good at communicating with your patients and following up regularly. This model performs best when care teams are in regular and consistent contact with the practice’s entire patient population.

Fee-For-Service to Full Risk Transition Solution

The latest in technology and data analysis to help with a smooth transition from fee-for-service compensation to full risk compensation is here! Primavera provides the technical and professional tools used to measure your practice’s strengths, opportunities, and partnership needs as you explore the possibilities of accountable care organizations and value-based contracting. We’ll map out the steps you need to take to transition your practice.

Step One: Obtain the financial performance of your patients, not only the clinical.
Step Two: Determine positive trends amongst different insurance companies.
Step Three: Determine your ability to negotiate higher capitation payments and either partial or full risk deals.
Step Four: Demonstrate your business’s maturity and sophistication to strategic partners including MSOs, Insurance Companies, and Capital partners or investors.

Reach out today for a practice assessment or a simple technology demonstration. With Primavera, it’s easier together.