While telemedicine has taken a forefront in many communities as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, it has been used in many rural states for a considerable amount of time. Over the last few years ‘Managed Care’ companies have used telemedicine in the administration of long-term rehabilitation including some Workers’ Compensation cases.
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In those cases a Nurse Practioner communicates with an injured worker and may use telemetry via the workers’ cell phone, laptop computer, or another table-top device to obtain vital information about the worker's health condition in addition to asking them medical screening questions. With COVID-19 impacting so many communities and requiring ‘shelter-in-place’ orders to be observed, many additional Workers’ Compensation Managed Care Administrators have implemented this type of telemedicine to monitor workers' progress because of their inability to access standard medical care from either their practicing physician or other medical facilities.
To facilitate the significant increase in these types of telemedicine conferences with injured workers the Workers’ Comp Administrators are turning to more traditional video conferencing methods to check-in on workers because specialized equipment and Apps simply are not readily available in the numbers needed to meet demand. Companies that specialize in telemedicine aimed specifically at the workers’ compensation market, especially for injured employees on home rehabilitation, are essentially overwhelmed with the requests made upon them for additional services during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Another area that seems well suited for telemedicine concerning Workers’ Compensation is prescription refill authorizations. Rather than an employee simply requesting a prescription refill over the phone by calling their physician’s office, or via their Managed Care Administrator, or even via their pharmacy, the use of a telemedicine link-up that allows the physician to consult with the employee and evaluate that employee before authorizing any refills is a wise use of this new relatively new technology.
Telemedicine is a valuable tool when used wisely and appropriately. It is certainly showing its value during the COVID-19 crisis in providing a mechanism whereby injured and rehabilitating workers can be checked, evaluated and even administered some levels of care without requiring them to travel to a medical service location. With the proper equipment the records produced as a result of these assessments and interventions become a permanent part of the medical documentation without the need to ‘duplicate effort’, since most systems include auto-transcribing of both sides of the telemedicine record.
It is more than likely that we will see not only a continuation, but an expansion of telemedicine’s use in Workers’ Compensation in the future (after COVID-19) as it just makes sense in terms of not only the care delivery options but the cost reductions it potentially provides.