Patient Safety Campaign Aims to Enhance Telehealth Education

To support the efficacy of telehealth, the Joint Commission has launched a patient safety campaign known as Speak Up At Your Telehealth Visit, which aims to provide patients with telehealth education and assistance with navigating virtual care.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has grown immensely in terms of popularity with patients and the number of providers that use it. For example, in January, the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional tracker found that telehealth use increased in every US census region for the third month in a row.

The Joint Commission, whose mission is to improve healthcare while maintaining patient safety, launched the campaign in the wake of the recent increase in telehealth use. 

The Speak Up At Your Telehealth Visit campaign aims to assist patients as they engage in telehealth, providing both recommendations and warnings. The channels through which the information is communicated include a poster, a video, and a distribution guide. 

“The appropriate use of telehealth has the power to make healthcare more accessible for patients with diverse health needs and for underserved communities. However, as with any healthcare experience, there is room for human error and miscommunication,” said Ana Pujols McKee, MD, executive vice president, chief medical officer, and chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer of the Joint Commission, in a press release.

According to the organization, many healthcare services can be provided through telehealth, including mental health counseling, prenatal care, genetic counseling, follow-up care, and monitoring acute respiratory viral illnesses and chronic conditions.

The Joint Commission also noted that patients might experience several challenges when using telehealth. The campaign aims to help patients mitigate these challenges and suggests they take certain precautions prior to a telehealth visit, including reading instructions, communicating with insurers, keeping track of questions or concerns, and listing prescriptions and symptoms exhibited.

“Patients can have a better telehealth experience by becoming aware of the benefits and risks of telehealth and speaking up when they have questions or concerns,” continued McKee.

Recent research has shown that telehealth can improve patient outcomes on par with in-person care and extend care access. 

A study published in September in JAMA Psychiatry found that the increase in telehealth use during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a decline in the chances of opioid overdose. Researchers came to this conclusion after observing that patients engaging in opioid use disorder treatment through telehealth were more likely to remain in treatment programs.

Another study published in September found that patients engaged in remote care had noninferior rates of adverse events compared to those receiving in-person care at home. Following a review of adverse event data measured by Poisson regression at a noninferiority scale of 10 events per 100 patients, researchers found a small difference of 2.8 adverse events per 100 patients between the two groups.