Goals need to be established for telehealth programs
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Before implementing a telehealth program, it is important to know what problem needs to be solved and to have a concrete goal to achieve.
“The ‘why’ is really important,” April Maa, MD, said at the American Glaucoma Society meeting.
Once the goal is clear, physicians can move to the planning phase to figure out “what model we are going to use, what kind of equipment is required, who’s going to gather the data for us and what kind of training is needed.”
Among telehealth delivery models, a strictly synchronous modality has little use in the context of glaucoma. An asynchronous or hybrid modality allows specialists to gather images and clinical data before the video call with the patient.
Equipment considerations include connectivity, portability and usability.
“If you have ophthalmology technicians ... you can use all sorts of complex equipment because we know they know how to use it. If instead you’re going to a remote area and you’re going to be using medical assistants, that’s going to change what kind of equipment you might want to use,” Maa said.
Implementation requires a lot of preliminary buy-in from the parties involved, which includes staff, patients and physicians. Active project management is recommended to facilitate the implementation process, which involves grouping and meeting the people who are involved, assigning specific tasks and providing regular feedback.
“A process map will be helpful to make sure you don’t forget any important steps,” Maa said.
After implementation, it is important to assess quality, measures and outcomes to know if the goals that were set have been achieved.
“If we find that we are not quite reaching those goals, then it’s important to establish an ongoing quality assurance and quality improvement cycle ... to iteratively improve the program,” Maa said.
Finally, the true measure of program success is sustainability, “and you have to work towards that from day 1,” she said.
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Maa A. Managing glaucoma from your beach shack: Practical recommendations on telehealth implementation. Presented at: American Glaucoma Society meeting; Feb. 29-March 3, 2024; Huntington Beach, California (hybrid meeting).
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