Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Debunking the myths around asynchronous care

Christina Chen, MD
Tech
January 25, 2022
Share
Tweet
Share

It is no secret that telehealth adoption has skyrocketed as a result of the pandemic, and because of that, many health systems are in the process of shifting to a virtual-first hybrid care model. Unfortunately, video visits, which most will equate with telehealth, have done little to help with the age-old issues of patient access and convenience, provider efficiency, and rising health care costs.

Patients often encounter the same frustrations during a video visit as they do for an in-person visit, including difficulty with scheduling and long wait times in the “virtual waiting room.” Providers will tell you that a video visit changes only the geography of a visit. The patient interaction time and the time required for charting are the same as any traditional brick-and-mortar encounter. Further, one recent Amwell study reported that nearly 1 in 4 clinicians say virtual care systems and workflows are not at all or hardly integrated with their organization’s existing systems.

So how can health systems and clinicians provide patients with an improved, consumer-friendly experience while also making strides to decrease provider administrative burden and burnout? They need to embrace virtual care beyond just video visits and look toward asynchronous telehealth. Asynchronous care allows providers to treat patients for common, low-acuity conditions online without a real-time, face-to-face interaction. It automates both the patient interview and clinician documentation, and provides clinical decision support while maintaining provider autonomy, keeping the clinician in control of diagnosis and treatment. Looking ahead, asynchronous telehealth holds unlocked potential for improving access and convenience for patients, reducing physician burnout, and driving efficiencies in care delivery to ultimately lower costs and improve outcomes.

In my conversations with clinicians, I hear a lot of confusion and misconception about this modality of care, which is understandable–it’s relatively new to many, and largely undefined. On the other hand, I also have the unique role of partnering closely with clinician executives and providers as they experience the power of asynchronous telehealth. Not only are they using it to deliver high-quality care, but now they’re also advocating for its value as a telehealth tool.

As asynchronous telehealth continues to gain traction, let’s debunk five of the most common myths.

Myth: Asynchronous appointments are not as effective as in-person ones due to the lack of real-time physical contact with the patient.

Truth: Asynchronous appointments can provide the same quality of care for low-acuity conditions as synchronous appointments. Through consistent and thorough digital clinical interviews that are evidence-based and dynamically changing based on the patient’s responses, asynchronous interviews mimic the history-taking process that typically occurs in a synchronous setting. In fact, many clinicians tell me that an asynchronous interview is more comprehensive than the interviews they typically have the time or capacity to do when speaking directly with a patient. The information gathered in the digital interview is relayed to clinicians in an easy-to-read SOAP note along with evidence-based treatment options, allowing them to provide care that meets, and often exceeds, national quality standards. And it’s done in a fraction of the time. With the right asynchronous platform, providers can deliver care for low-acuity conditions in less than five minutes, and that includes completing all of the documentation for the visit. Research is growing to support the quality of clinical outcomes through asynchronous care as well. For instance, a team of psychiatrists and researchers from UC Davis recently published the first longitudinal study to demonstrate that asynchronous mental health care is proven to improve clinical outcomes in English and Spanish-speaking primary care patients.

Myth: Utilizing virtual care technology creates a greater administrative burden for providers, especially having to build clinical content within asynchronous tools.

Truth: While this can be true for certain digital health tools, the reality is that it doesn’t have to be. Ideally, virtual care technology improves provider efficiency by automating administrative tasks and integrating seamlessly into existing workflows, including EHRs, prescription fulfillment tools, billing, and the like. By collecting the patient’s history digitally, asynchronous care allows providers to focus on medical decision-making rather than data gathering and documentation, optimizing skill-task alignment. What further sets leading asynchronous telehealth solutions apart is that they take on the responsibility of creating, maintaining, and updating all of the clinical content. This means ensuring that everything remains evidence-based and consistent with clinical protocols so that health systems and their providers don’t have to.

Myth: Asynchronous care is fueling health inequity by limiting access to patients with high-speed internet.

Truth: Unlike video visits, asynchronous telehealth only requires a 3G connection. Broadband internet is not needed. This is critical to provide convenient care to the more than 14 million urban homes and 4 million rural homes that do not have broadband access. For many care delivery organizations, asynchronous telehealth provides an important and valuable touchpoint for patient engagement, allowing more members of the community–especially those in rural areas–to get easy, quick access to care without the need to arrange transportation, travel, take time off of work, or find a broadband connection. For providers, it also means a break from the connectivity issues and IT support roles we too often have to play to make certain types of telehealth visits effective.

Myth: Asynchronous care is a chatbot or a symptom checker, which often does not meet clinical quality standards.

Truth: It’s crucial that we distinguish asynchronous telehealth from chatbots or symptom checkers. First and foremost, asynchronous telehealth provides end-to-end definitive care while most chatbots or symptom checkers can only give the patient a list of possible diagnoses based on their symptoms or direct them to another avenue to seek care. Further, while these technologies are designed specifically to remove clinicians from the patient interaction, the ideal asynchronous telehealth solution does the opposite. There should always be a provider on the other end of the clinical interview–just not in real-time. Asynchronous telehealth provides expert-level clinical decision support, while maintaining provider autonomy over how they diagnose and treat a patient, including the ability to escalate the patient to a higher level of care when asynchronous care is not appropriate. All of this in a platform that adheres to the strictest of evidence-based clinical standards. Asynchronous telehealth–when done right–is personalized, high-quality human care.

ADVERTISEMENT

Myth: Asynchronous care tools fragment patient experiences within the broader hybrid care delivery model.

Truth: Unlike many of the direct-to-consumer care options now available to patients, asynchronous tools do not lead to care fragmentation. Not only are patients receiving care from providers within their chosen health system, but critical information like medications, allergies, and problem lists from the EHR are made available to the treating clinician to help inform their medical decision-making. Once care is delivered, the automated chart note generated by our platform becomes a permanent part of the patient’s electronic medical record, maintaining continuity of care.

The value of asynchronous telehealth is clear: benefits for patients in terms of access and convenience, benefits for providers in terms of efficiency and reduced administrative burden, and benefits for health systems in terms of quality, cost savings, and outcomes. As a clinician, I see firsthand how asynchronous care is already changing health care for the better. It also carries a lot of promise for the other applications, including the potential for pre-visit interviews and integration with remote patient monitoring and other digital tools. With today’s challenges around capacity, staffing, EHRs, and care navigation, to name just a few, asynchronous care will play a vital role in the future of care delivery.

Christina Chen is a family medicine physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Lessons in caring too much from a fictional physician [PODCAST]

January 24, 2022 Kevin 0
…
Next

"Doctor, you have been duped"

January 25, 2022 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Health IT, Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Lessons in caring too much from a fictional physician [PODCAST]
Next Post >
"Doctor, you have been duped"

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

  • How social media can help or hurt your health care career

    Health eCareers
  • Turn physicians into powerful health care influencers

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • America leads the world in high tech care and health care costs

    Mark Kelley, MD
  • Why health care replaced physician care

    Michael Weiss, MD
  • Health care is not a service commodity

    Peter Spence, MD, MBA
  • Why the health care industry must prioritize health equity

    George T. Mathew, MD, MBA

More in Tech

  • Health care’s data problem: the real obstacle to AI success

    Jay Anders, MD
  • What ChatGPT’s tone reveals about our cultural values

    Jenny Shields, PhD
  • Bridging the digital divide: Addressing health inequities through home-based AI solutions

    Dr. Sreeram Mullankandy
  • Staying stone free with AI: How smart tech is revolutionizing kidney stone prevention

    Robert Chan, MD
  • Medical school admissions are racing toward an AI-driven disaster

    Newlyn Joseph, MD
  • AI in health care: the black box of prior authorization

    P. Dileep Kumar, MD, MBA
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Meds
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • Why great patient outcomes don’t protect female doctors from burnout [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why ADHD in women is finally getting the attention it deserves

      Arti Lal, MD | Conditions
    • How a $75 million jet brought down America’s boldest doctor

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Why ruling out sepsis in emergency departments can be lifesaving

      Claude M. D'Antonio, Jr., MD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Meds
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • Why great patient outcomes don’t protect female doctors from burnout [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why ADHD in women is finally getting the attention it deserves

      Arti Lal, MD | Conditions
    • How a $75 million jet brought down America’s boldest doctor

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Why ruling out sepsis in emergency departments can be lifesaving

      Claude M. D'Antonio, Jr., MD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...