Image Credit: AthenaHealth.com
The new trend in Healthcare thanks to Covid19 is TeleHealth, it’s not a new technology because it existed long before the pandemic, but was mostly a service available to privately insured. There are some concerns about the the privacy in using TeleHealth because of sensitive patient data. HIPPA(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), pre-pandemic were very serious about patient data, but relaxed a good deal of their codes due to the increased and urgent need for medical care and access. The relaxed regulations are coming to an end this year(2021) and that’s good for patients, but what about the data that’s been collected during the “relaxed regulatory periods”? As a MHF Caregiver I know how much of a luxury it would be to not have to convince a loved one to leave the house with you to go to their doctors appointment. I can only imagine that the MHF Caregiver with a loved one who is a wheel chair user. My question and concern os the accessibility to individuals who don’t have private insurance to cover the luxury. What do you think about TeleHealth? Would you use it if it was available to you? Image credit: https://www.athenahealth.com/knowledge-hub/healthcare-technology/telehealth-as-home-healthcare