The American Telemedicine Association has introduced a comprehensive toolkit to advance community telehealth services and tackle health disparities. The toolkit offers measures, calculators, and tools to evaluate digital infrastructure and estimate costs for telehealth-based interventions. This resource aids decision-makers in addressing economic burdens linked to healthcare inequalities. Developed by the Disparities Advisory Group, it goes beyond traditional ROI, emphasizing economic and social value. These tools align with Telehealth Awareness Week, promoting telehealth’s role in equitable healthcare. The recent Telehealth Expansion Act underscores the government’s commitment to health equity and social determinants of health.
The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) has unveiled a comprehensive toolkit designed to enhance the delivery of community telehealth services and address critical issues related to health disparities. This toolkit includes a range of valuable resources such as measures, calculators, and other tools aimed at improving access to virtual care and alleviating the economic burdens associated with healthcare inequalities.
The newly released tools from ATA serve a dual purpose. They enable communities to assess their digital infrastructure and estimate the costs involved in implementing telehealth-based clinical or social interventions. These estimations help highlight the positive impact of virtual care on healthcare disparities.
In a recent announcement, ATA emphasized the importance of these tools in assisting decision-makers and funders in targeting interventions that can mitigate the economic consequences of inaction while simultaneously enhancing the overall health of communities. These resources are part of the Disparities Advisory Group Toolkit, a collaborative effort guided by national healthcare leaders and co-chaired by Kristi Henderson, DNP, Yasmine Winkler, and Dr. Ron Wyatt, with David Smith, CEO of Third Horizon Strategies, facilitating the group’s efforts, as explained by Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of ATA.
The formation of the advisory group in 2021 was driven by the recognition of telehealth’s unique potential to eliminate health disparities in the United States. These innovative tools go beyond conventional return on investment metrics, focusing on achieving both economic and social values.
Kristi Henderson, DNP, CEO of Confluent Health, chair of the ATA board of directors, and co-chair of the advisory group, emphasized the importance of these tools in ensuring equitable access to healthcare, with telehealth being a crucial component of this effort.
The Disparities Advisory Group Toolkit comprises several components, including:
1. Digital Infrastructure Disparities Score and Map: This component uses a newly developed composite measure to assess a community’s digital infrastructure on a scale of 1-100.
2. Economic and Social Value-Added Calculator: This tool assists in estimating the cost of telehealth-based interventions and calculates the value of these interventions, considering factors such as the capital and operational expenses associated with telehealth technology platforms and broadband connectivity. The aim is to benefit payers, providers, government entities, and businesses.
3. Resources Toolkit: This includes a roadmap and additional resources to support the effective use of the toolkit.
The release of these groundbreaking resources coincides with the celebration of the third annual Telehealth Awareness Week. This event aims to highlight the role of telehealth in an omnichannel care delivery system, expanding access to quality care and addressing the challenges faced by healthcare providers.
In the broader context, the passage of the Telehealth Expansion Act of 2023 in June reflects the federal government’s commitment to health equity and the addressing of social determinants of health (SDOH). Telehealth is seen as a pivotal tool in achieving these goals, as highlighted by Kamala Green, social drivers of health program manager at National Government Services.
Furthermore, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology recently released an SDOH toolkit, providing data standards to support the collection and use of social determinants data by community groups and healthcare providers striving to achieve health equity.
Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of ATA, emphasized the importance of the advisory group’s work in creating the necessary infrastructures and tools for stakeholders in the healthcare industry to assess and understand the components required to eliminate disparities effectively. This work is pivotal in identifying how virtual care services can contribute to improving the health of the population and the required investments in this endeavor.
