Best Practices for Using Telehealth in Hospice and Palliative Care.

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care
• Telehealth
• Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Background:

• Hospice and palliative care providers adapted to COVID-19 pandemic challenges, including infection control and telehealth.
• Telehealth adoption in hospice and palliative care was slow pre-pandemic but accelerated significantly.
• The pandemic highlighted telehealth's potential to improve access for rural and underserved populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight expert clinician work in developing telehealth best practices for hospice and palliative care.
• To propose compilation of best practices for quality-driven, evidence-based clinical guidelines.
• To ensure interprofessional applicability of telehealth guidelines in various settings.

Main Methods:

• Review of expert clinician experiences and practices in hospice and palliative care telehealth.
• Development of proposed best practices for telehealth visits in inpatient and community settings.
• Focus on adapting to infection control measures and accelerated telehealth use.

Main Results:

• Telehealth utilization rapidly increased in hospice and palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Telehealth has long-term implications for enhancing access to care, especially for rural and inequitably served populations.
• Telehealth offers promise for more effective and efficient care delivery.

Conclusions:

• Continued growth of telehealth services in hospice and palliative care is expected due to infrastructure and reimbursement advocacy.
• Developing and compiling best practices is essential for quality-driven, evidence-based telehealth guidelines.
• Interprofessional applicability of telehealth best practices is a key consideration for future implementation.