We have seen that telehealth has been helping a lot of people overcome their issues in life related to healthcare because of the ease with which they can get access to medication right from their home instead of going out to the clinics even when they are not feeling well enough to do so. Now, there is a new study that has been done on dementia patients who were using a popular telehealth care program and the ones that were given the regular care with the facilities that are available right now. The findings of this study suggest that dementia patients getting telehealth via this program can be cured much earlier as compared to the standard method.
As per the study, “the findings are that a popular dementia telehealth care program has three benefits: It boosts outcomes for people with the disease, eases the burden on paid caregivers and lowers Medicare costs”. It is worth noting that “the scientists gauged how well things went for one year. All of the people in the groups were similar in age, severity of dementia and other diseases. The caregivers were also divided up so both groups had people of about the same ages. People in the telehealth group had average Medicare costs $526 lower than those receiving the usual model of care.
More than 25 organizations — some of them health systems — have used the program since 2014. The telecare program will be available in July 2024. It will be available to people who have dementia and live either at home or in assisted living communities. They must be covered by Medicare fee-for-service or have dual Medicare and Medicaid eligibility. The program includes navigators that assist with drugs, transportation, respite care and daycare”.
A researcher in the UCSF Department of Neurology, said in a statement, that “The patients most likely to benefit from the Care Ecosystem are those with moderate-to-severe dementia and those who have caregivers suffering from caregiver depression”. She noted, “Our research has shown that meeting with a navigator and their associated clinical team led to considerable savings, likely from averting unnecessary visits to the ER,”
