Telehealth Uses Technology to Connect Patients, Doctors

cost of care
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
The Intelligencer
A7
‘Telehealth’ uses technology to connect patients, doctors
By Crissa Shoemaker DeBree
staff writer
Soon, you may not even have
to go to the hospital at all for some
care.
As technology has improved,
so have ways to communicate
with patients outside the hospital setting. Hospitals have taken
advantage of this through growing
“telehealth” initiatives to connect patients and, in some cases,
their families, with health care
providers.
“Technology, with the right
provider and human interaction,
will have a positive impact on
the way care is delivered,” said
Michael Laign, CEO of Holy
Redeemer in Abington, which has
a “tele-video” program for some
in-home care patients.
“I do envision the day
when you would be
admitted (for care) to
‘home.’ That means
you would be cared for
at home.”
Dr. Katherine Sherif, director of Jefferson Women’s Primary
Care, regularly holds “telemedicine” appointments with patients,
many of whom would have to
travel quite a distance to see her in
Philadelphia.
“I have a patient in Princeton,”
Sherif said. “She was going to take
the whole afternoon off to drive to
Philly, deal with the traffic, wait
in my office, and then turn around
and go back home. I said, ‘Why
don’t we just make this a telehealth
visit?’ We did. It was
half an hour. She was
still at work. She still
had the whole day. It
makes a lot of sense.”
Jefferson, which
now includes Abington Hospital, this summer
unveiled its Jeff Connect app, a
“telemedicine” application that
eventually will be staffed 24/7 by
a Jeff physician. It also has a “virtual rounds” program that allows
family members of patients to conference with doctors during their
rounds.
While “telemedicine” isn’t for
everyone — and in many states,
including Pennsylvania and New
Jersey, it isn’t required to be covered by insurance as an in-person
Teachers approve 1-year contract
run through June 30, 2016.
The union represents district
teachers, guidance counselors, librarians, psychologists,
school nurses and social
workers.
The starting salary for a
PEA member will be about
$45,628 and the highest salary
will be about $99,204 if the
board approves the contract.
In addition to the 1 percent pay raise for all union
members, the deal also provides one column movement
to the right on the PEA salary matrix at mid-year for all
eligible members for earning
advanced college credits,
Langtry said in the news
release.
By Joan Hellyer
staff writer
Pennsbury’s teachers
union voted Tuesday to ratify
a one-year contract with the
school district that includes 1
percent raises for all members
of the bargaining unit, officials said.
“It passed by a large margin,” Pennsbury Education
Association spokeswoman
Lucy Walter said of the vote
taken after union members
completed their in-service
day Tuesday. Most of the
estimated 875 PEA members
voted on the proposed contract, she said.
The PEA vote came a day
before Pennsbury begins its
new school year on Wednesday when all elementary
school students, as well as
sixth- and ninth-grade students report for class. All students are scheduled to report
on Thursday.
The school board will
take a ratification vote on the
tentative agreement during
an 8 p.m. special meeting
on Thursday at Fallsington
Elementary School in Falls,
district spokeswoman Ann
Langtry said Tuesday in a
news release.
If approved by a majority
of the board, the contract will
be retroactive to July 1 and
The agreement also provides for all eligible union
members to move to their
correct columns on the scale
at the end of the 2015-2016
school year, Langtry said.
It has been several years
since PEA members have
been able to receive additional compensation for educational attainment, Walter
said.
Should the board approve
the deal, the union members
“will be where they belong”
on the scale at the beginning
of the 2016-2017 school year,
the union spokeswoman said.
visit — it can fill a care gap for
patients who otherwise wouldn’t
have access to a doctor. Some
insurers are realizing this; Harrisburg-based Capital BlueCross, for
instance, said “telemedicine” services will be included in its plans
next year through a partnership
with American Well.
“It allows patients who don’t
have access, whether they’re in a
rural community or in the middle
of Center City Philadelphia, to see
a physician,” said Dr. Judd Hollander, Jefferson’s associate dean
for strategic health initiatives.
“We want to get people to have the
option to adopt it when and where
they want it. We don’t want to
take everybody getting their medical care (in person), and all of the
Labor Day
DUI-enforcement
PennDOT, state police
and municipal police are
taking part in a “Drive
Sober or Get Pulled Over”
campaign for Labor Day
weekend.
PennDOT spokesman
Gene Blaum said that
last year over Labor Day
weekend, there were 144
sudden, everything must be done
on the iPhone or television.”
When Joseph Devine’s daughter developed strep throat recently,
for instance, she texted with her
doctor and sent him a picture of
her throat. He called in a prescription for antibiotics.
“The reality of it is, technology is going to be a key player in
the future,” said Devine, CEO of
Kennedy Health in Voorhees, New
Jersey. “The younger generation
is so advanced. They don’t want
an answer tomorrow. They want
an answer within a minute. We’ll
have to be more technologically
savvy for that consumer.”
Crissa Shoemaker DeBree: 215-345-3186;
email: cshoemaker@calkins.com; Twitter: @
CrissaShoemaker
alcohol-related crashes that
resulted in 16 deaths. There
were also 44 drug-related
crashes with three additional deaths.
PennDOT statistics for
2013 show there were 3,267
drug-related crashes statewide, with 143 fatalities in
those crashes. In 2014, there
were 125 fatalities in 3,332
drug-related crashes.
In 2013, there were
11,023 alcohol-related
LUNCH
crashes statewide. In 2014,
that number dropped
to 10,586. Fatalities also
dropped from 369 in 2013
to 360 in 2014, according to
PennDOT.
Statewide, police statistics show that there were
52,636 people arrested on
driving under the influence
of alcohol charges in 2014,
a decrease from 54,121 in
2013.
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