02-19-2025 PTL - Flipbook - Page 10
10 A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, February 19, 2025
TELEHEALTH
The benefits of
telehealth
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
F
or those who study aging, work with older adults, or attend to them, the numbers are daunting. The percentage of those over 65 is growing at astounding
rates. Why is this important? We don’t have enough trained medical personnel to take care of them. Telehealth can help by making the existing staff we do
have become more efficient and manage their time better.
We are already lacking geriatricians,
doctors specially trained to administer to our older adults. And there’s
another issue. Unlike other age groups,
this demographic is atypical; its members cannot be lumped together. Some
80-year-olds have physical and mental
capacities similar to many 30-year-olds.
Others experience significant declines in
capacities at much younger ages.
What does this group look like? Here
are the World Health Organization’s Key
Facts, October 2024:
• “In 2050, 80% of older people will
be living in low- and middle-income
countries.
• The pace of population aging is
much faster than in the past.
• In 2020, the number of people aged
60 years and older outnumbered
children younger than 5 years.
• Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population
over 60 years will nearly double
from 12% to 22% (2.1 billion).
Here in the United States, on June
1, 2024, the National Council on Aging
stated, “With people in the U.S. aging
better and living longer, older adults are
one of the fastest-growing groups in
the country. In fact, by 2030, all Baby
Boomers will be age 65+ and by 2040
roughly 78.3 million Americans will fall
within that age group.”
Dr. Joseph C. Kvedar, professor of
dermatology, Harvard Medical School,
and senior advisor and board member of
the American Telemedicine Association
(ATA), spoke with me about telehealth
and older adults. He is a strong advocate
of telehealth and has been instrumental
in pushing the benefits of health care at
home. He’s also an author, writing The
New Mobile Age, a book that explores
how digital technologies can enable individuals to remain vital, engaged and
independent through their later years.
His second book, The Internet of Healthy
Things, explores how information technology and the Internet of Things can
revolutionize health care.
“Telehealth and all its related parts
plus other technologies we’ve integrated
are now mainstream, almost a common
occurrence, and it is becoming more so
all the time,” Kvedar says. “At first, it was
video visits during the pandemic, then
we added patient portals – dedicated
websites for patients to access test
results, appointments, and most importantly, connect with the practitioner.
“I have a number of patients who
are older and have difficulty leaving the
house, so they are grateful when we
can do a virtual visit. Both the patients
and I find it more convenient. Thanks to
the pandemic, Zoom meetings, Skype,
whatever video format you choose, get-
ting together virtually is much easier and
more comfortable.
“Patients find the patient portal convenient, more acceptable than before.
We discovered that a majority of our
patients are on the portal, so it’s easier
all around. We can screen patients, send
messages, send test results, refill prescriptions. There’s a record so no one
falls through the cracks. And if there’s
a problem or concern, portal messages
can clarify what’s going on.”
Kvedar told a story of a friend with
A-Fib, atrial fibrillation. If he would wear
an Apple watch, which has FDA approval
to record heart rhythms and send the
information to his physician, he wouldn’t
have to schedule appointments as often.
If he switches and starts wearing the
watch as a monitor, he can check in by
phone or video. Another friend on Eliquis,
a blood thinner, was told by his cardiologist, “If you have an Apple watch,
I’d take you off the medication.” In both
instances, having a wearable monitor
means quick discovery of a problem and
even quicker treatment.
“There’s another benefit for practi-
