AHRQ report calls for more research on telemedicine
More research is needed for better informed policy and practice decisions for the use of telehealth, according to a draft technical brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The brief was requested by Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). AHRQ surveyed the available research on the impact of telemedicine on health outcomes and healthcare utilization to evaluate the body of evidence supporting its use.
“Our searches confirmed that there is a large, broad evidence base about the effectiveness of telehealth, including over 200 systematic reviews and hundreds of primary studies published since 2006,” according to the AHRQ draft report. “Although we found that many reviews are not structured or conducted in a way that would support current decisions related to telehealth, we did identify a substantial amount of evidence—44 systematic reviews that covered several important clinical focus areas and met our inclusion criteria.”
The largest volume of research showed positive results from telehealth interventions used in the clinical areas of chronic conditions and behavioral health, and when telehealth is used for providing communication/counseling and monitoring/management.
The analysis led to the suggestion of a two-pronged approach: new systematic reviews in areas lacking sufficient synthesized research (consultation in acute care and in maternal and child health) and more primary research for clinical areas and roles for telehealth that do not yet have a sufficient evidence base to support important decisions about practice and policy, more primary research is needed rather than more systematic reviews.
“We identified triage in urgent/primary care, management of serious pediatric conditions and the integration of behavioral and physical health as three potential topics for more primary research,” the authors wrote.
AHRQ also recommended that telehealth research expand to include new organizational and payment models. “Going forward, research should be conducted in emerging models of care, particularly value-based models where use of telehealth may improve the ability to share risk and attain quality and related outcomes. These studies of telehealth should consider combinations of applications of telehealth and outcomes that are important in these new models and evaluate the specific contribution telehealth can make in these contexts.”
Public comments will be accepted on the draft technical brief until Jan. 5, 2016.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.