“Discharge” Is An Illusion

February 23, 2016 by InTouch Health

Health systems and regulatory agencies compile mountains of hospital discharge data – and too often they consider a discharge to be a one-and-done event worthy of a marching band. But some health systems have realized that many patients are never fully discharged. They often move quickly – and invisibly – between inpatient, outpatient and post-acute settings.

Telehealth technology is proving to be a game-changer in this new world where hospital discharge is just a recovery phase, not a grand finale.

According to Modern Healthcare, the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York has developed a telehealth app that allows the staff to easily monitor patients after discharge. For example, clinicians can see how well patients are walking – and that visual confirmation is much more effective than a phone-based check-in.

Telehealth is also the ideal technology for connecting the dots. There are a lot of simple reasons why many patients boomerang back into acute care: not having a primary care physician, not sticking to a medication regimen, etc. A 30-year-old might be able to get away with that, but for seniors it can be a one-way ticket to readmission.

Telehealth technology ensures that physicians, case managers. pharmacists and patients are on the same page (or home page as the case may be).

For a patient recuperating from a stroke, pneumonia or heart attack, discharge isn’t a red-letter day like a college graduation. In the days and weeks following discharge, the care team has to share information every bit as effectively as a coaching staff in the Super Bowl. Every coach wears a headset – and every care coordination team should be using telehealth.