How to Build and Sustain Successful Telehealth Programs

There are several keys to building and sustaining successful telehealth programs at health systems, hospitals, and physician practices, a top executive at Providence health system says.

The biggest driver for patients in terms of telehealth experience is the ease of connecting to the service, such as adequate bandwidth and having the device that they need, he says.

"You must re-envision what a practice is going to look like. Many practice groups have been reluctant to do that, mainly because there is no certainty that the shift to telehealth to see Medicare patients is going to be permanent."

For example, several Providence physician practices and medical groups have launched an initiative to use a centralized team of medical assistants to conduct blood pressure monitoring and to call high-risk patients to check on them.