BY MICHAEL JOHNSEN
Significant opportunities for pharmacy operators are just around the bend, as members of the Continua Health Alliance—the standards bearer for telemedicine across consumer products and services—are currently ramping up development of a potential slew of telehealth-type products for launch this fall.
Telehealth is the concept of pooling all healthcare data metrics and information—including data from home diagnostics devices—warehousing that data and making it easier for consumers to access and search the most appropriate and approved healthcare providers in an effort to better manage outcomes, improve compliance and foster better health.
For example, when grandma wakes up in the morning to check her blood pressure, her telemedi-cine-enabled device can wirelessly uplink that data to her HIPAA-compliant online health center, whether through a computer modem or her cell phone. That information, in turn, can be accessed by the patient’s daughter, a caregiver or a healthcare provider from her doctor’s office, her nearby retail clinic or her neighborhood pharmacy who will track those data points for indicators of a potential health condition.
That simple example represents big business for chain pharmacies and the likely development of several new revenue streams for druggists—such as branded, password-protected Web sites that can register data points in real time, and medication therapy management or disease state management services, that align pharmacists, nurse practitioners, etc., with physicians for periodic reviews of things like blood glucose and blood pressure readings, in an effort to better manage the patient’s condition. Like the trend toward e-prescribing, it’s a potential area in which the pharmacist and the physician will collaborate for a more comprehensive healthcare strategy.
“We define [telehealth] in three large categories: health and wellness, disease state management and aging independently,” noted David Whitlinger, president and chairman of the Continua Health Alliance. “[Disease state management] is perhaps much more interesting to the pharmacy population because these [senior patients] are the frequent fliers, if you will,” especially given the number of medicines that they take and the frequency with which they visit the drug store, he explained. And those who are aging independently may be an especially attractive demographic, Whitlinger noted, given the loyalty-generating opportunities of not only the seniors seeking better management of their
health, but also their caregivers.
But services won’t be limited to the rapidly growing baby boomer population. “Other common chronic conditions, such as asthma, diabetes and obesity, are less age-specific, but are also on the rise and require long-term management,” the Continua Health Alliance noted.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with the large
pharmacy chains,” Whitlinger said. “Almost all of them are looking at some sort of personal health record management system. I use that phrase broadly because of the move toward e-prescribing. … That kind of tracking and healthcare IT is leading [phar-macy operators] toward offering more personalized services to their regular customers.”
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Source: Continua Health Alliance
WASHINGTON — Management of chronic conditions could very well change, as a new administration
isn’t the only advantage associated with telemed- assumes control of the executive branch next year.
icine—it’s also likely to increase access to health “Telehealth is nothing less than a lifesaver,”
care in remote, rural areas. Conrad stated. “It allows patients in rural areas in
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., in April introduced North Dakota—and across the nation—to access
a bill that, if passed, would increase access to tele- the cutting-edge medical care they need without
health services by the Medicare population—to having to drive long distances to reach a clinic or
date, Medicare has been slow to cover telehealth specialist. Telemedicine means access to care that
services, Conrad said. Current law restricts who is otherwise unavailable.”
may provide and receive telehealth services and Conrad has been championing telehealth since
what services are covered by Medicare. 1993, when he formed the U.S. Senate’s Steering
Conversely, all of the large healthcare third- Committee on Telehealth.
party payers, including Kaiser Permanente and Specifically, Conrad’s legislation, the Medicare
Aetna, are part of the Continua Health Alliance, Telehealth Improvement Act of 2008, would:
said David Whitlinger, president and chairman of • Expand the eligible sites providing telehealth
the Continua Health Alliance. But the Centers for services. Nursing homes, dialysis centers and
Medicare and Medicaid Services is not one of community mental health clinics would be eligi-
them. “CMS for the most part sees [telemedicine] ble for reimbursement from Medicare for tele-
as an expenditure that is not tied into a savings,” health services.
Whitlinger said. • Allow more providers to participate, includ-
CMS was conceivably more receptive to a ing physical therapists, occupational therapists, telemedicine-based model that would theoretical- audiologists and speech-language pathologists.
ly save healthcare dollars when former Food and • Improve the Medicare process for updating Drug Administration commissioner Mark the list of eligible services. The legislation creates McClellan was at the helm. And while CMS may an advisory panel that would give recommenda-be a little more cost-averse today, that approach tions on the addition or deletion of services.
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