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The year 2020, also known as the “year of the pandemic,” had been remarkable in terms of the extent and degree of change taking place around us, in all industries, regions, and organizations.

As COVID-19 had a bad impact on the health care system in 2020, which is why there is a huge opportunity for payers and stakeholders to reconstruct the health care system into a more effective and consumer-driven system in 2021.

Telemedicine has taken a dramatic leap forward in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as organizations have looked for rapid implementation so that they can continue providing services among isolated groups and social distancing protocols.

While the move from in-person visits to virtual care – both by phone and video – provides several conveniences, there are unavoidable difficulties for health systems, and challenges continue to arise as telemedicine becomes more prevalent.

Before understanding the challenges, let’s know about virtual care!

What Is Virtual Care?

Now many health care providers and health care systems are looking for ways to increase access to care for their patients along with a decrease in overall health care costs, which has made the health care industry grow at a faster pace. 

It is fortunate that digital technology acts as a means for health care providers to communicate with their patients while breaking down barriers that can hinder a patient’s access to care. This is how virtual care is an important role.

To define virtual care- “it is the comprehensive term that consists of the ways that most healthcare providers are using to interact with their patients remotely” one of them is Telemedicine. Providers typically use video, audio and real-time instant messaging to communicate remotely with their patients.”

Moreover, there are many benefits of telehealth and virtual care which are comprehended because of the pandemic, but it still contains many difficulties. As it has said in the report that there are a lot of difficulties in telehealth and patient experience of virtual care. Let’s understand them!

Challenges of Virtual Care

• Technology & Connectivity 

Wi-Fi connectivity and different software with application platforms present technical difficulties. Even though laptops having basic hardware also don’t have enough sufficient video capabilities which will affect provider and patient communication. 

Also, many patients who belong to remote areas don’t have access, affinity, or skills to use the virtual platforms and medical groups also don’t have enough time to train patients that required for virtual treatment. 

• Correct Use

It is important for healthcare providers and patients to use virtual care appropriately. There are certain conditions that might not safe and appropriate for virtual care. 

For Example – Metabolic conditions and behavioral health may be appropriate for virtual visits but exam dependents are not fit for this. 

• Ongoing Personal Connection

 The third challenge is a personal connection. Healthcare providers are finding ways to make a personal connection with patients especially for those who are using digital health as use cases tend to be one-off visits (for acute needs like a sore throat) or care that’s not connected to a patient’s usual doctor (such as mental health).

•  Reimbursement

Most of the providers are facing transition problems to virtual care and telehealth. Due to pandemic, virtual care and telehealth reimbursement arguments are highlighted. 

It is important for health insurance companies to learn that provider satisfaction is necessary for strong virtual care. Their primary concern is to get paid faster for the services they provided. Whether it is face-to-face visits or virtual care, reimbursements are essential. 

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• Limitations For Physical Examination 

In today’s technological world, many providers and patients have access to high-quality video conferencing but it is not easy for some providers to diagnose or treat a patient virtually. 

Moreover, the conditions that are not serious can be effective for virtual care. In some conditions, providers may not feel comfortable conducting an examination over video chat. This is the reason patients prefer in-person visits over virtual appointments. 

• Awareness About Virtual Care

Some of the virtual care services such as chronic patient monitoring, therapy appointment, and post-operative care are specifically run on the software and hardware which are more costly that requires additional IT training, more staff, and purchase of different servers and supplementary equipment. 

Patients who are not computer-literate or don’t have a budget to purchase equipment and software have faced many problems in virtual care treatment. For this reason, it is necessary to aware of the patients of all the required needs of virtual treatment. So, he/she can plan accordingly. 

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All over the world, it has been noted that patient compliance is a multifaceted and complex health care problem. 

There is no secret that most patients with chronic conditions have a hard time adhering to medical recommendations and treatment plans. No one likes to go to the doctor, but there are occasions when we don’t have a choice because our bodies eventually need some kind of repair. But, what is the actual problem? 

The problem is that a lot of people go to the doctor with health problems but they don’t take their medications as scheduled, skip their appointments, and/or ignore suggested lifestyle changes and health dietary recommendations.

There are two types of non-compliance- one is primary non-compliance and the other one is secondary non-compliance. A primary non-compliance happens when a patient fails to fill a prescription.

Around a third of noncompliant patients fall into this category. There are several ways a secondary mismatch can occur, and these include missing a dose, stopping the medication altogether, taking the medication at the wrong time, and medication misuse

According to the research study, approximately 50% of patients do not take their medications as prescribed and about 75% of patients are non-compliant in one way or another. 

Importance of Patient Compliance

Patient compliance is defined as the extent to which the patient follows the prescribed diet or treatment, and whether the patient returns for follow-up, observation, or treatment.

This non-compliance behavior costs more than $100 billion to $289 billion a year to the U.S. health care system, and this figure is expected to rise more in the future.

If there is a mismatch between the patient’s willingness to take the health care plan and the physician’s attempt to initiate an intervention, noncompliance with the plan is likely to follow. In the end, the patient suffers. 

Nevertheless, some solutions exist to help physicians adapt treatment plans to the individual patient that will provide them with the motivation to work together in their care and lead to better health, shorter hospital stays, and stronger health systems. 

Let’s look at the strategies to boost Medication Compliance!

Strategies to Boost Medication Compliance

• Involvement In The Process

Many non-compliant patients feel they don’t have the proper support system to help them keep track of their daily medication usage or feel they are not involved in their own care process.

Patients who are not compliant usually feel that they don’t have the proper support system for tracking their daily medication usage. They also feel that they are not involved in their own process care. 

However, it is important to involve patients in their treatment process to get a high level of patient satisfaction. 

The research study also shows that providers who actively involved their patients in a diagnosis or treatment plan will get positive results in terms of patient satisfaction.

It has also been said in the study that when patients view their physician as honorable and trustworthy, chances that they will obey the following recommendations.

• Compliance Reminders

With the help of compliance reminders, it is easy for patients to get to know when it’s time to take their medications. This will also help patients because it has been shown to increase compliance substantially, which will lead to better results. 

Also, 73 percent of test participants reported being satisfied with the program, while 88 percent claimed that interaction with health professionals plays a big role in their engagement.

• Understand Patient Behavior

One of the most important things that providers should consider is the understanding of patient behaviors. Moreover, providers need to understand all the problems that patients have to face more often such as problems in filing, taking, or affording medications. 

For this reason, create motivating environments for patients is necessary to make patients feel comfortable in speaking openly and honestly. 

• Create Awareness About Side Effects

In order to create awareness providers should talk about side effects with patients to let them know about the serious adverse drug reaction. Also, tell them how to prevent them. How treatment pan will be changed if they don’t resolve? Are they typically resolve without intervention? Providers should have answered these questions. 

• Understand Patient’s Financial Condition 

It is also important for providers to understand the patient’s financial condition. Whether they can afford the medications or not, providers should actively involve in this process to boost patient compliance.

If you want to make your patients compliant then it’s time to make your patient’s aware of pharma company-based assistance plans, state-based assistance plans, and pharmacies that arrange for 30-day supplies of broadly suggested medications.

• Decrease The Complexity

Reducing the complexity of the drug regimen will help patients to follow through with taking medications correctly. Some ways to reduce complexity are providing combination products and prescribe medications with once-daily dosing instead of multiple doses per day etc. 

• Use Technology 

Patient medication compliance may improve with the help of technology such as automatic pill dispensers, pillboxes and timers, and alarm watches. A Bluetooth pillbox can provide physicians the information they can use to detect adherence issues.

• Follow-Up With Patients 

Use medication reminders via text, email, or direct mail or during time allotted for chronic care management services. Also, schedule follow-up appointments to discuss medication compliance. You should tell your patients why they need their medication as prescribed even they are symptom-free. 

Considering that patient non-compliance is an issue in the U.S. that costs billions of dollars each year, the number of preventable deaths has occurred already. For this reason, it is important to find out the root cause of the problem and then address it with a proper solution. Hopefully, the above strategies will help you improve patient compliance while we help you with medical billing and coding.

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