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n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 2 1 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 19 F O C U S : H e a l t h C a r e Rising popularity of telemedicine boosts demand for virtual-care skills, specialists H ealthcare providers have spent many years figuring out how to best care for patients, but with COVID-19 they had a new lesson to learn — how to do it virtually. In response, universities have launched new programs to help providers, and many area hospitals are hiring virtual- care experts and providing in-house training. While a virtual visit might seem easily interchangeable with an in-person one, healthcare providers oen need advanced education to assess and treat patients on the phone or via videoconference. In January, Sacred Heart University (SHU) in Fairfield will launch a program featuring four, eight-week courses over two semesters to train advanced practice regis- tered nurses in best uses of telehealth. Program director Donna Faye McHaney, clinical associate professor at SHU, said she has interviewed a lot of people interested in being admitted into the program. "We've had a good response and several people have already enrolled," she said. Telehealth has been around a long time By Patricia Villers — about 40 years, McHaney said — but COVID has become a tipping point for its use, making virtual-care skills in demand. "I don't think telehealth is going away," she said. "More and more people will em- brace it and I think it's here to stay." McHaney said it increases patients' access to providers and she foresees a time when there will be kiosks in community centers and other public places that offer telehealth capability. e SHU courses will be taught remotely, McHaney said, and will cover setting up telehealth equipment, reimbursement and more. St. Francis Hospital in Hartford is actual- ly hiring telehealth specialists to provide virtual care. So-called "virtualists" are physicians who only do virtual visits with patients, and St. Francis has already hired four of them, said Dr. Manjula Cherukuri, medical director of Trinity Health Of New England Medical Group. (Trinity Health of New England is St. Francis' parent company.) e idea is to have physicians available 24/7 to the communi- ty for non-urgent care. e physicians "could be anywhere in the U.S.," she said. "Our goal is to make it easy for the pro- vider and the patient. Our staff members are committed to pa- tient-centered care." St. Francis Hospital is constantly seeking to expand telehealth's use, and when a new provider is hired they get virtual-care train- ing as part of their on- boarding, she said. Trinity Health op- erates more than 90 hospitals in 22 states, which "pro- vides an advantage" in learning from health- care workers using telehealth in other parts of the country, Cherukuri said. "e secret sauce is we have the support," she said. Lessons learned Demand for tele- health services has boomed this year. For example, at Yale New Haven Health providers since Jan. 1, have participated in more than 450,000 video visits and just under 300,000 phone visits. Yale New Haven Health Director of Tele- health Dr. Scott Sussman said the hospital has utilized virtual care for many years but its use since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold last spring has grown exponentially. "We see telehealth as a complement to an in-person visit. It's going extremely well," he said. Virtual-care use varies from specialty to specialty, Sussman added. For example, Yale New Haven uses virtual care to help diagnose strokes and for behavioral-health appointments. In general it has been well-received by physicians, he said. "ere have been lessons learned as we go," Sussman said. Yale has created training documents that are posted on its telehealth website, and held training sessions with its doctors, according to Sussman. Yale also has a telehealth assistance group that is available to assist clinicians and patients. A survey of Yale physicians related to telehealth use during the COVID-19 pan- demic found more than 90 percent agree or strongly agree that using videoconferencing has been helpful, Sussman said. Early adopter All primary care physicians at Griffin Faculty Physicians Inc. have been trained in telehealth, according to Caitlin Eaglin, director of primary care at the multi-spe- cialty medical group affiliated with Griffin Hospital in Derby. "Each physician was given a combina- tion of in-person and web-based training," she said. "Our electronic medical records team took the lead on training and made sure that all the providers knew how to use the system. ey also trained additional staff members in each office to be super users to help troubleshoot any issues as well." Primary care physi- cian Dr. David R. Marks was an early adopter of telehealth at Griffin Hospital. In fact, for six to eight weeks straight last spring he did nothing but virtual care, seeing 20-plus patients a day. He believes telehealth could become one part of total patient care. In his practice, Marks has patients with transportation issues and the office oen has many no- shows, so telehealth becomes valuable. "When the pandemic hit [telehealth] be- came very helpful," Marks said. "We could evaluate and assess patients and determine if they need to be seen, go to the ER, or [decide] if testing is needed. It's not a total substitute for an in-person visit, but it's a great part of our arsenal." n Dr. Scott Sussman Donna Faye McHaney Percentage of insurance claims from telehealth visits in Northeast states Aug. 2019 - 0.06% Aug. 2020 - 6.53% SOURCE: FAIR HEALTH Griffin Health's Dr. David R. Marks (top photo) and Emily Medina (bottom photo), administrative director of outpatient psychiatric services, are shown participating in telehealth visits with patients. Top 5 telehealth diagnoses in the Northeast in August 55.8% Mental health conditions 3.5% 2.8% 2.1% 1.9% Joint/soft tissue diseases and issues Developmental disorders General signs and symptoms Substance use disorders SOURCE: FAIR HEALTH PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED

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