Patient activation is the key to treating and changing lives
This past June, Atlanta held the Telehealth Summit 2019. Among the many notable speakers, the speech by Richard Milani, the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer for Ochsner Health System, really stood out. Eric Wicklund’s article hit all the important notes in Milani’s speech.
One huge problem that our healthcare system faces today is that a majority of our healthcare expenses, 86 percent to be exact, are used for chronic care management. But our healthcare system was not constructed to treat people who have chronic diseases. To Milani, our healthcare system is not built for today’s 21st-century patient.
“We have a model for delivery that doesn’t fit the problem for the population,” said Milani.
Milani emphasized that our system needs to cater more to the three pillars of chronic care management: medication, behavior change, and surveillance. How can we resolve this issue? Milani’s answer, like many others’, is leveraging the power of telehealth. Care providers can use telehealth technology like mobile health devices or apps that allow for the creation of a better health plan that encourages behavior change.
The Chief Clinical Transformation Officer for Ochsner Health System stated that telehealth technology can connect the provider to the patient outside of the office. This is important because a patient’s health issues can change on a very frequent basis, not just between office visits.
There are more issues beyond patient/provider interaction, according to Milani. He highlighted how patients are being treated must change. For chronic care management in particular, Milani noted that providers must be able to recognize factors that influence a patient’s lifestyle choices.
An effective treatment plan will utilize patient activation in order to better motivate patients to make changes in their lifestyle. Our telehealth tools can be used by providers to enable patient activation. An example of this would be sending alerts and reminders to a patient that pertain to their care plan on a mobile app.
“People are looking for an alternative other than just another pill,” Milani stated.
Many patients today are looking for these external motivations to keep a closer eye on their health. These telehealth tools can give the extra push a patient needs.