State laws and Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement codes are allowing more telemedicine use – and one of the growing areas is women’s reproductive care.
Whether addressing obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), fertility, pregnancy, prenatal care, post-partum delivery or cancer, women’s healthcare is seeing an upsurge in telemedicine. Privacy, convenience, and availability all play a part in the growing popularity of reproductive health via telemedicine.
Not Just for Fevers and Sore Throats
The use of telemedicine in specialty modalities is growing exponentially, but many people may have a limited understanding of telehealth’s applicability in specialties. Telehealth app companies tout the convenience of having a doctor at your fingertips, but few talk about the specialty care that can be delivered through a mobile device – which leaves many assuming telemedicine works best for more common medical issues such as fevers and sore throats.
While most OB/GYN care requires in-office exams, OB/GYN telemedicine can provide post-operative care, help manage medications, monitor treatment plans and share lab results and well woman exam results. Conditions such as post-partum depression and gestational diabetes can also be monitored through telemedicine. One program at the Medical University of South Carolinas Center for Telehealth uses telemedicine to treat pregnant women who are addicted to opioids, in which psychiatrist Dr. Connie Guille connects to the patients in their OB/GYN offices, monitors their condition, and prescribes medication to help the patients with their addiction.
In Arizona, a local healthcare company provides provides mothers-to-be and new mothers up to 12 months post-partum access to a telehealth app in which women can talk to nurses, nutritionists, and lactation consultants 24/7. Pregnant women can receive guidance on a variety of issues ranging from prenatal diet to infant health issues such as colic. The pilot program is being assessed for its success.
Another growing use of telemedicine in women’s health is in genetic counseling. Whether a woman has a family history of cancer and may have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, or if a woman has been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer, genetic counseling is viewed as being vital in assessing and treating cancer patients. In 2017, Dr. Jubilee Brown presented the growth of newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients receiving genetic counseling over a three year period, which grew from 40 percent in 2013 top 58 percent in 2014 to 96 percent in 2015.
Training Rural/Remotely Located Providers
Sometimes health organizations and institutions use telemedicine to simultaneously train physicians and provide a diagnosis and treatment to a case. In Utah, Dr. Brett Einerson developed a program called the Obstetric Hemorrhage Collaborative, in which he invited all Utah hospitals to participate. The program was six months long and included two in-person training meetings and teleconferences twice a month with expert mentors. The in-person sessions focused on hands-on training and strategies for treating obstetric hemorrhage, and the mentoring sessions were led by regional and national experts in obstetric hemorrhage. Surveys were conducted pre- and post-training to monitor the participation and rate of improvement in care.
All participants reported the teleconferencing sessions were helpful, and 14 of the 15 obstetric hospitals reported being very satisfied with the collaborative. A specific outcome of the training was the need for hospitals to track the rate of hemorrhage after delivery, a vital tool in determining the effectiveness of the tools used to treat and prevent obstetric hemorrhage.
Our Products Make a Difference
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