OAHHS Hospital Voice Fall/Winter 2020

18 » A magazine for and about Oregon Community Hospitals. COVID-19’S SILVER LINING: THE EXPANSION OF TELEHEALTH The pandemic has opened the doors for a long-awaited boom in remote care By Jon Bell Think back, way back, to February of this year, a time when the initial rumblings of a novel strain of coronavirus spreading across the globe were just beginning to amplify. It was a time before masks, stay-at-home orders, and social distancing, a time when hospitals and clinics were still seeing patients almost entirely in person and telehealth services were but a blip, albeit a brightening one, on the radar. Six months ago, Oregon Health and Science University logged just 300 virtual visits through its online patient portal known as MyChart, a system that lets patients connect with providers via a two-way video connection. In March, after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued sweeping policies to tamp down the spread—including banning nones- sential surgeries and elective medi- cal procedures—OHSU saw its MyChart visits jump to 3,700, with upwards of 10,000 in April. In roughly the same timeframe, the hospital also saw all digital visits rocket from 1,100 in February to nearly 13,000 in March. And there appears to be no slowing down. Though telehealth—the delivery of health care services remotely through the use of audio and video platforms—had been slowly gaining steam in recent years, state and federal regulations limited the practice. But when COVID-19 showed up and people were no longer able to go see their doctors or visit the hospital unless they really needed to, telehealth jumped into the spotlight. Its newfound prominence and widespread adoption by providers and patients alike is just one of the more positive impacts that COVID- 19 has had on hospitals and health systems in Oregon and around the country. From new ways of deliver- ing care to shifts in how health care will be paid for, the pandemic is changing the health care world— and in many cases, for the better. “I think the doors have really been blown open on telehealth,” said Katie Harris, director of rural health and federal policy for the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. “This is the push we needed to really move forward. It’s one of the really good things that will come out of this public health emergency.” A History of Being Hamstrung Prior to COVID-19, telehealth had been emerging and evolving, but its use was far from widespread. Advances in technology had been helpful in improving how providers could connect with patients remotely, but federal and state regulations made it challenging for telehealth to really take off. Those regulations limited what kinds of providers could use tele- health, what types of services could be offered and which patients were eligible. For example, regulations When COVID-19 showed up and people were no longer able to go see their doctors or visit the hospital unless they really needed to, telehealth jumped into the spotlight.

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