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The public hearing was a session held by the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs during which the state of things regarding telehealth provision at VA was discussed. The primary notion was that because of the pandemic, VA as an organization as well as its facilities and providers had to rapidly adjust to the realities of the pandemic and expand its telehealth and digital offerings. This ranged from primary care to mental health and specialty care as well. In the context of the pandemic, one of the significant issues was vulnerable populations such as minorities or veterans are experiencing even greater challenges, particularly in mental health, as well as reduced access to vital care. Telehealth expansion, modernization, and integration has helped to address some of the concerns.
One of the repeated themes during the hearing, stemming from both experts and members of the committee was that telehealth expansion has occurred and should continue to be built upon reliable and existing technological infrastructure and relationships. This means using reliable and tested technology as well as ensuring there is a prior relationship established between the patient and the provider if possible. Also, multiple barriers and challenges were discussed in the process as well. These included technological challenges and incompatibilities, digital literacy, lack of capacity and time of medical staff, need for workforce expansion and training in this area (including devising new protocols). Furthermore, other areas of concern are bringing the service to rural areas and serving vulnerable populations who may not have access to technology (homeless, poor), greater emphasis on mental health, necessity for funding, and developing additional tools for enhancement of the telehealth experience (House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, 2020).
The proposed topic of study is focusing on the telehealth concept in modern medicine, both while the pandemic is ongoing and potentially into the future as an element of improving access and reducing healthcare costs. As evident by the hearing, telehealth is a multifaceted healthcare provision factor which continues to face multiple challenges that have to be addressed through policy, adoption of new evidence-based practices, and evolvement of technological capacity. As part of the research, these various aspects of challenges currently being faced and possible solutions for future innovation and benefits from a healthcare and policy perspective can be discussed.
Reference
House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs. (2020). Subcommittee on health and technology modernization joint hearing: VA telehealth during COVID-19 [Video file]. YouTube.
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