The National Quality Forum’s (NQF) https://qualityforum.org Rural Telehealth and Healthcare System Readiness Committee’s report assesses the impact that telehealth has on healthcare system readiness and health outcomes during emergencies in rural areas.
This initiative was funded by CMS, who contracted NQF to convene the 25 member Committee to guide the work. The Committee included experts in rural healthcare delivery, telehealth research, telemedicine, healthcare policy, critical illness and disease management, health information technology, and caregiver/patient advocacy.
These measures can be used to guide quality improvement efforts, as well as inform the development of new measures in identified gap areas. “Healthcare services in rural areas are particularly vulnerable during disasters. This work lays out a framework to guide quality and performance improvement for care delivered via telehealth in response to disasters,” said Committee Co-Chair, Dr. Marcia Ward, Director, Rural Telehealth Research Center at the University of Iowa.
Despite the large expansion of telehealth, in the U.S. healthcare delivery system, quality measurement for telehealth is in an early development phase. Standardized comprehensive measurement is imperative to inform the leverage of telehealth needed to enhance care delivery, increase access to care, and achieve positive health outcomes for all.
Based on the Committee’s discussions, measurement was suggested in several categories to advance rural telehealth measurement. These categories include 1) Access to Care and Technology, 2) Costs, Business Models, and Logistics, 3) Experience, 4) Effectiveness, and 5) Equity.
Through literature review and Committee feedback, NQF identified several existing measures that could be adapted to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of telehealth delivery in rural areas including general process and outcome measures for care.
Other specific recommendations from the report includes adapting current measures to assess telehealth a focus on specialist care, coordination, and patient experience, as well as developing new measures to assess topics including access to broadband, organizational capacity to shift to telehealth during emergencies, and disparities in care.
Go to https://qualityforum.org/Press_Release.aspx for more information on the report, then click on report to read the details.