Dive Brief:
- The American Hospital Association's strategic business division Health Forum released on Wednesday the results of its 18th annual Most Wired survey.
- The survey of 680 participants, representing an estimated 2,146 hospitals, found the top three telehealth services offered in hospitals are consultations and office visits, stroke care, and psychiatric examinations and psychotherapy.
- In addition, 68% of respondents accept patient-generated data through a patient portal.
Dive Insight:
According to Health Forum, Most Wired hospitals are partnering with other providers to share health data aimed at key patient groups, such as individuals with diabetes. Some key takeaways from the survey include:
- 53% of respondents interface EHR data with population health tools;
- 62% stratify patients according to risk;
- 51% aggregate data from patient encounters to create a community health record;
- 26% offer E-visits through a mobile application; and
- 61% use social media to provide support groups.
Removing "policy and other barriers to telehealth will allow even faster adoption of these amazing technologies,” said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the AHA in a prepared statement.
To wit, only about 25% of hospitals use internet-enabled monitoring devices for chronic disease management of congestive heart failure, diabetes and heart disease, the survey found. Chronic disease management efforts via population health initiatives is a relatively new breeding ground for the healthcare market. As noted at this year's ACC Scientific Sessions, your zipcode is your healthcare destiny and cardiovascular mortality has been estimated to increase from 17 million in 2013 to over 23 million in 2030.
Still, a large swath of products surrounding population health efforts (wearables, specifically) aren't yet bathed in evidence-based results. For example, a recent study found the PurePulse heart rate monitors in the FitBit Surge and Charge HR have an "extremely weak correlation" with actual users' heart rates when measured by an electrocardiogram (ECG), and are "highly inaccurate during elevated physical activity."
"Stroke care is the most rapid growth area for telehealth services up 38% from 2015, as evidence-based studies emphasize the time urgency of stroke care," AHA noted.
A broken down state-by-state list of the Most Wired hospitals can be found here.