The Department of Veterans Affairs oversees the care of more than 9 million individuals through more than 1,000 facilities through the Department of Veterans Health.
However, many of these patients face mobility hurdles and other challenges that can make it difficult to reach face-to-face care.
Even before the pandemic, Dr. Neil Evans, Chief Officer of the Veterans Health Administration, explained that he laid the foundation for the expansion of virtual medicine through telemedicine programs established in more than 50 clinical disciplines.
In 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a new initiative called VA Healthcare Anywhere, and subsequently enacted bipartisan legislation enabling interstate telemedicine for Veterans Affairs providers and patients. ..
“Early efforts included telemedicine, call centers, expansion to VA telemedicine access points within the community, and even the application of telemedicine in the event of a disaster,” said Dr. Leonie Heyworth, director at HIMSS22 next week. Evans, who will announce it together, said. He is responsible for synchronous telemedicine and is the Deputy Director of the Connected Care Office of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“In fact, the VA Telehealth Emergency Management Team was founded in 2017 in response to Hurricane Harvey and Maria,” Evans continues.
However, the COVID-19 crisis caused a rapid scale-up. As Evans explained, VA video-to-home telemedicine encounters increased by 3,147% from 294,847 encounters in fiscal year 2019 to 9,575,958 encounters in fiscal year 2021.
In 2021, the Department of Veterans Affairs provided more than 11.2 million telemedicine episodes to more than 2.3 million veterans. This represents a 98% increase in telemedicine episodes compared to fiscal year 2020.
“In response to the surge in demand for video telemedicine, VA has rapidly expanded its cloud-based architecture to significantly improve video capacity and performance,” Evans said. “This was achieved over the early weeks of the pandemic, without which the Department of Veterans Affairs care team might not have been able to maximize video use during this period.”
Evans said that almost all mental health and primary care providers have already been trained in video visits and that specialists are provided with rapid access to training through a “just-in-time approach.”
“Oh, and one more thing, VA wasn’t just about home video care,” Evans added.
“VA also managed a surge in critically ill patients, especially at the COVID-19 hotspot, and has rapidly expanded its telecritical care program to support intensive care units across the country,” he said.
“Other digital and virtual care features are rapidly being launched based on existing infrastructure, and VA provides a self-subscription protocol for remote COVID-19 symptom monitoring, followed by interactive,” Evans continued. We were able to perform rapid vaccine scheduling for pandemics through text messaging. ”
Regarding how COVID-19 changed the situation, Evans said:
“Connected care is and will continue to be an important part of how veterans care for veterans,” he said.
Hayworth added that the team learned how many telemedicine technologies could be applied. “More than I had imagined before the pandemic.
“VA has created new opportunities in physiotherapy, hematology, horse therapy and many other areas,” she continued. “The key to pre-pandemic adoption remains today, but with provider support and support.
“Without the change in frontline Veterans Affairs staff and the commitment to meet Veterans where they are, the Veterans Affairs Department wouldn’t even have dreamed of expanding overnight.” She said.
Hayworth and Evans pointed out how telemedicine can increase access to currently underserved people among veterans.
“To make it easier for veterans in rural and poorly broadband areas to access care, VA is creative with foreign war veterans, American Legion, Walmart, Phillips and other civilian organizations. Developed a collaborative effort to bring care to the local community by accessing remote medical care from stations in the local area. ”
“The ATLAS site allows veterans to meet video providers in private rooms and connect to medical teams video.”
Currently, she said there are 12 ATLAS sites nationwide. VA also rents hundreds of thousands of devices to veterans, making them less likely to miss reservations and increasing patient satisfaction.
Evans outlined some lessons that attendees would like to receive from the panel, including a relentless focus on the experience of patients and healthcare providers. Give providers the freedom to leverage virtual care tools in a way that best meets their needs. It does not leave the patient behind.
“Without meaningful provider involvement and ownership, connected care has no true’connection’,” he said. “Approval by a connected care provider is its most powerful marketing tool.”
Evans and Heyworth elaborate on the HIMSS22 panel, “Connected Care-Access, Capacity, and Quality in a Pandemic.” It will be held at the Orange County Convention Center W307A from 4:15 pm to 5:15 pm on Tuesday, March 15th.
Kat Jercich is a Senior Editor of Healthcare IT News.
twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
