Why Practices Should Still Utilize Telehealth Amid COVID-19
COVID-19 prompted a widespread adoption of telehealth solutions across the country. Pro...
April 6, 2020
Providers are having to adjust and adapt the way they normally deliver care in order to continue helping patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients who might normally come into the office for regularly scheduled visits are having to stay away during this time. While providers are trying to keep everyone as safe as possible, some patients need life-saving care on a daily basis.
Many providers are switching to telehealth video visits during COVID-19 to continue offering care to patients who need it. But for patients who need weekly or daily dialysis, a video visit is not enough. The good news is that telehealth involves more than just video visits. With this tool, providers can also offer home dialysis options for their patients with chronic kidney disease.
Home Dialysis with Telehealth Helps Patients Stay Home During COVID-19
Everyone in the nation is putting their best foot forward to shelter-in-place and practice social distancing. This is encouraged to prevent the quick spread of a disease that is easily transmitted from person to person. While everyone is at risk of contracting the coronavirus, those who are immunocompromised are more vulnerable and less likely to recover should they come into contact with it. This includes patients who are receiving regular dialysis.
Home dialysis with telehealth helps patients stay home during COVID-19. Any chance to avoid leaving one’s home is essential during this time. This tool helps dialysis patients continue receiving the quality care they need without deepening their risk of getting the coronavirus.
Other Benefits of Home Dialysis with Telehealth:
1) Time- Efficient
For both the patient and the provider, home dialysis with telehealth is a time-efficient alternative to in-person treatment. This tool eliminates the need for patients to travel to and from treatment centers, saving them time in their daily lives. Instead, options are available so that the patient and their caregiver can set up and operate the machine themselves, allowing them to fit it into their own routine.
Home dialysis with telehealth is also a time-efficient solution for providers who are already stretched thin. When a patient completes dialysis from home, the data collected during that time is uploaded directly into the patient’s chart. With the right EHR, providers can visit and check-in on patients using telehealth video appointments, helping to greatly save provider time.
2) Cost-effective
While some providers worry that home dialysis will lead to revenue loss, that is not the case. This method of dialysis is actually cost-effective for providers. The patient and their caregiver are trained on how to set up, operate, and maintain the at-home dialysis machine. This enables providers to decrease staffing costs for treatment centers.
The elimination of travel costs also makes home dialysis with telehealth a cost-effective solution for patients.
3) Flexibility
Dialysis patients are constantly forced to put their lives on pause to visit treatment centers to receive care. Due to centers only operating during certain hours, this prevents patients from having the flexibility to live the life they want.
Home dialysis with telehealth gives patients the flexibility they desire to live their daily life while still getting the life-saving treatment they need.
During a time where so many of us are trying to find ways to stay safe, home dialysis is a solution for dialysis patients who are more vulnerable to the risks of the coronavirus. Once this global pandemic is in the past, home dialysis with telehealth will continue helping them by giving a higher level of flexibility and normalcy to their daily life.
To learn more about how your practice can offer this tool, click here.