In The News

The Uphill Climb To Virtual Care

January 31, 2015

remote health monitoring

connected health devices

connected health apps

What should executives keep in mind as they consider the expanding acceptance of and preference for virtual care delivery among consumers and payers? There are three big considerations that are outlined in Virtual Care Demand Could Test Care Providers’ Health IT Infrastructure In 2015, a piece by Harry Wang, the lead analyst for Parks Associates’ digital health research program, that appeared recently in Computerworld.

The video revolution has its challenges – While traditional patient portals are probably fine, according to Mr. Wang, interactive communications services using video could be a potential area for trouble. The issues to consider include video player configurations and related software challenges, system capabilities and reliability for increased video traffic, and security.
Real-time health information exchange is the expectation – Virtual care increases timely access to professionals, and consumers expect their medical records to keep up. Increasing use of telehealth will highlight the problems of interoperability (see Net Neutrality Is About More Than Streaming Movies and Interoperable Electronic Data Exchange Is Non-Existent Among Long-Term Care Provider Organizations). Consumers expect timely access to past health records, lab tests, and diagnostic imaging.
Dealing with all that remote monitoring data – The most advanced of virtual care systems leverage consumer self-monitoring capabilities, and integrated them into virtual care sessions. It sounds quite simple, but how such data will be fed into electronic health records (EHR) without delay and then compared with similar historical data is no simple matter. And, it is critically important to both the consumer experience and realizing cost savings from e-health.

From the article "The Uphill Climb To Virtual Care" by Monica E. Oss.

Previously In The News

The 2027 Emmys need a home — will it be on Netflix, Prime Video, or YouTube?

Michael Goodman, director of entertainment research at Parks Associates, says that if the rights head to the open market, there could be a significant increase in the rights fees or whoever winds...

Data Reshapes Home Control And Drives New Investment Frontiers

Research firm Parks Associates reports that 20% of smart thermostat households are enrolling in demand response program. From the article, "Data Reshapes Home Control And Drives New Investment Fron...

High-speed internet considered essential infrastructure to many

Parks Associates, a Plano, Texas, market research and consulting firm, estimates the number of connected devices in the average internet household is about 17 and says approximately 45% of households...

Smart Home Devices: Security Spurs Subscription Growth

Daniel Holcomb from Parks Associates puts it straight: security is the bedrock for subscription cash flow. But hold on, AI's here to push further. It's about solving real issues like fortifying ho...