We welcomed six healthcare professionals in June to the TextExpander Telehealth Summit: Optimizing VirtualCare in 2024. Throughout the summit, our keynote speakers and panelists answered questions from healthcare professionals about how they manage their workloads, the future of telehealth, and how to offer equitable and efficient care.
Wondering what’s next for the industry? We’ve compiled the top audience questions with answers from our speakers below.
On the future of technology in healthcare
Q: The future of telehealth will continue to evolve with AI. How do you recommend healthcare providers prepare for AI within their practice?
Glen Tullman, CEO of Transcarent:
You need to become experienced at two levels, personally and professionally.
On a personal level, get an account [for ChatGPT] and start to play with that. You shouldn’t be using this in your practice yet; it doesn’t meet the quality or confidentiality requirements for patient care. However, it will give you a sense of what capabilities are coming.
Professionally, find tech partners that are incorporating more AI and efficiency tools into their products. That should be one of the questions you ask when you bring on new vendors or talk to existing ones. We see this with TextExpander; the efficiency that it can add is dramatic. Find products that, once you use them, you say, “What did I do before?”
Q: What technology do you use to work more effectively by yourself or with a team?
Guy Macpherson, PhD, Host of The Trauma Therapist Podcast:
My answer is actually going to center on the technology that has significantly improved my sanity. [Though it is very related to patient outcomes,] one of the main things that I do every day as someone who does a lot of interviews is take notes and write a lot of questions or queries.
The one thing that allows me to do that efficiently and sanely is TextExpander. It’s one of the things that makes my job easy. TextExpander makes notetaking something that I almost want to do because it’s really cool to just go ‘boop boop’ and have a whole body of text appear before my eyes. It saves me time almost every day.
On finding efficiencies in patient care and practice management
Q: What strategies do you use to ensure consistent and accurate content documentation while maintaining high-quality care?
Amelia Aburn, LCSW Licensed Mental Health Therapist:
I’ve learned that taking notes during sessions (whether they’re virtual or in-person) is not a pathway for presence with my clients. I work to be able to really tune in and then create the space in the day, right after the session, to take intentional progress notes.
I have a five-minute rule. Right after the session, I write my progress notes for five minutes. Getting to that regular practice has been a journey, but it ensures I integrate the treatment model, interventions, and our plan moving forward without compromising my time with a client.
Q: How do you ensure effective collaboration and communication, especially in a virtual environment?
A: Becky Zook, RN, BSN, MS, Owner and CEO of NurseWritersGroup
While so much of our world is moving toward virtual care and virtual collaboration between care teams, we still must come together.
I currently live in a city different from where my practices are located, which is about an hour and a half drive away. I find Microsoft Teams (or any instant messenger) is a great way to host a lot of virtual team meetings and connect quickly. That said, you also have to set aside time to be face-to-face. It changes the team dynamic and we want to make sure that you have some actual time together to build some relationships.
I recommend practices and leaders dedicate time to finding the proper balance of in-person work so the constant, everyday communication through instant messaging or online tools is more efficient and productive.
On strategies for providing improved and equitable care
Q: Can you share a success story where innovative approaches or technologies significantly improve patient outcomes?
Carlene MacMillan, M.D., CMO at Osmind:
The most impactful way we’ve used technology comes into play with measurements on suicidal alerts for at-risk patients.
With our system, if somebody fills out Section 9 on the PHQ-9 (indicating they have active and intense suicidal thoughts), I get an alert that they’ve answered that question in an at-risk way. As soon as I get an alert, even if I haven’t seen this patient for three months, it’s an opportunity to message them, assess the situation, and quickly do a virtual visit.
One of the biggest issues in psychiatry and mental health is that people struggle to follow up. They wait until it’s too late or think they can’t speak with us until their next scheduled appointment. So, checkpoints in between visits to uncover at-risk issues vastly improve patient care. It’s been really, really helpful. I wouldn’t want to run my practice without that in my toolkit at this point.
Q: How do you ensure technology solutions are accessible and equitable for all patient populations, including those who might not be quite as tech-savvy?
Dr. Danielle K. Miller, DNP, MSN, BSN, RN, “The Pivot Nurse”
We may think that everyone has a smartphone. So you say to a patient, “Oh, download that app.”
But what about the folks that don’t have a phone? Or the ones who do but can barely dial on it? That’s where you may want to think about non-digital solutions like paper handouts for important information. Or maybe you recommend a virtual visit, and then learn your patient doesn’t have a computer at home.
Though technology can help us in so many ways, a lot of times for a practice to be truly equitible, we have to be creative. The way we see our patients needs to be adaptable based on their needs.
Looking for more insights?
You can watch the full recordings featuring all six of our medical experts on-demand.
Will AI Replace You?
Learn about the hottest trends in virtual health from Glen Tullman of Transcarent, Dr. Danielle K. Miller of The Pivot Nurse, and more!
