Telehealth—A Change in a Practice Model in Oncology

Abstract

The introduction of oncology telehealth in BCCSVIC/Vancouver Island Health Authority was in an ethics-approved study. Following the completion of the trial, there was a 10-fold increase in follow-up patients seen using this modality. Reluctance to see new patients through telehealth probably relates to the necessity to change the patient encounter paradigm. There is a need to develop a model where patients who are a distance from specialists concentrated in larger centers have reasonable access to the same standard of care, without incurring the time and financial burdens. Telehealth would be a part of that model.

Cost analysis of a speech pathology synchronous telepractice service for patients with head and neck cancer

“…9,11,26 Synchronous telepractice, where commonly a live, videoconferencing link is utilized to provide direct specialist clinical services in real time to patients living in nonmetropolitan areas, is evolving as an accepted and viable solution to improve access to healthcare while avoiding unnecessary patient/clinician travel and costs. 1,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] Although more commonly used in other oncology services, [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] to date, synchronous telepractice has been used in head and neck cancer management to support multidisciplinary team meetings, 1,28,31,33 perform patient screening, [42][43][44] and facilitate select clinical assessments, such as fiberoptic nasendoscopy 29,30,35,45 and conduct medical reviews. 1 Although the viability of these services has been documented, few have reported on economic outcomes.…”

Teleoncology for gynecologic cancers

“…A medical oncology group in Vancouver Island, British Columbia demonstrated an increase in follow-up visits after implementation of a telehealth program for patients facing a geographic barrier (winter travel through mountains) to in-person clinic visits [52]. There was a high degree (N80%) of satisfaction with all facets of the encounter.…”