Telecardiology is life-saving. One 2018 meta-analysis determined that telecardiology improved access to echocardiogram imaging in rural areas and primary-care settings. This improved access, in turn, reduced the rate of hospital re-admission for patients with heart conditions.
That’s not the only positive result.
Overall, telecardiology enables effective decision-making at a lower cost than on-site cardio imaging. Echocardiography, calcium scoring, and coronary CT angiography (CTA) exams deliver critical information to clinicians. Now, this critical data is available even in regions where the nearest cardiologist is one thousand miles away.
Medical teams can further improve telecardiology’s success rate by implementing best practices. Discover ten strategies and tools that improve telehealth outcomes for heart patients.
1. Partner With Key Stakeholders
Telecardiology works best if leaders on all levels support telehealth program establishment and maintenance. This includes managers of healthcare organizations. But, it also includes patients in your region, community leaders, and even government representatives.
Partnership with stakeholders is easier when you appeal to all potential motivations and address concerns. For example, you might use a cost-benefit analysis to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of a telecardiology partnership. The state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, undertook one such analysis.
The analysis addressed concerns about the cost and ability of communications infrastructure to support telecardiology. It also demonstrated the ease of utility and accessibility of the service for locals.
Researchers conducted the analysis using a simulation, and they ran the simulation with a wide range of variables. Ultimately, it showed telecardiology to be both technologically feasible and economically beneficial. This won critical stakeholder support.
Other simulations demonstrated similar benefits for other telehealth projects. A Monte Carlo simulation calculated the value of telemedical screening for athletes, prior to major events. It showed the investment to be wise—as long as organizations monitored certain cost variables.
Telecardiology is established enough that, at this point, the results often speak persuasively for themselves.
2. Telecardiology With Real-Time Audio/Visual Connection
One of the best telecardiology tips to follow is to ensure your communications infrastructure can support real-time video conferencing. High-Speed internet services are the best mode to sustain telecardiology.
Fiber-optic connections are ideal, but many clinics sustain telecardiology services with internet services that maintain speeds of 25 Mbps or faster. Many DSL, satellite, and beam internet services maintain this bitrate.
Of course, the larger a hospital or practice is, the greater bitrate it needs to maintain telecardiology. A real-time telecardiology consult that requires HD video might need a 100 Mbps connection—or even 1000 Mbps. The key is, the practice needs to maintain a real-time audio and video connection for the duration of the session, without any lag or delay.
Infrastructure Investment
The good news is, the benefits of telecardiology can persuade regional leaders to invest in internet infrastructure. One case study demonstrates how healthcare organizations were able to take advantage of a “window of opportunity” in Portugal. Telemedicine advocates were ready to push for infrastructure investment when the political opportunity arose.
As a result, the telemedical project saved the healthcare system €1.1 million. At the same time, it served over 32,000 pediatric patients in outpatient settings. Once high-speed internet infrastructure is established, it’s easy to sustain.
3. Cardiologist Expertise, Fast
Telecardiology services are only as good as the specialists involved. The best telecardiology practice brings a board-certified cardiologist into a patient’s care as early as possible.
Patients have worse outcomes the longer they wait between symptom onset and treatment. A patient’s condition can worsen after diagnosis if there’s a delay in treatment. But, the most dangerous period is before and during diagnosis.
The Canadian Cardiovascular Society discovered that long wait times are most harmful when clinicians are characterizing the disease. The characterization process slows when non-specialist physicians weigh whether to refer the patient to a specialist for non-invasive tests. Expedited
In this window, wait periods increase mortality and disability risks. Expedited consultation reduces these risks. CCS recommends expedited consultation within a one-week time frame.
But, expedited consultation is not always available, as cardiologists must typically balance many demands of their time.
Fortunately, telecardiology offers the same benefits, faster. It cuts out any guesswork.
4. Platform-Independent Systems
Computing technology changes quickly. Telecardiology systems must be able to adapt to changes readily. Thus, when a clinical team switches to a new server or operating system, they don’t have to adjust the telecardiology practice.
Ultimately, all software programs associated with telecardiology should be independent. This means the software application should be compatible with all operating systems. One way to do this is to make the program web-based.
Medical professionals can access a web-based program from diverse devices. Computer scientists proposed cloud-based telecardiology systems as early as 2013. Systems that utilize both cloud computing and mobile computing enable:
- Better data storage
- Improved delivery and retrieval
- Streamlined medical file management
Over the years, developers prioritized adaptability in system design. One telecardiology system improves efficiency by utilizing Active Server Pages. This makes retrieving telecardiology data easier.
These types of client-server systems are future-focused. Researchers have seen positive results when they’ve adapted platform-independent systems for mobile users.
5. Advanced Cybersecurity
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) fines healthcare groups that run afoul of HIPAA. Unfortunately, if cyber-attackers expose patients’ private information, healthcare organizations can be—and have been—held liable. In 2010, HHS fined New York Presbyterian Hospital $4.8 million when cybercriminals breached their security.
Telecardiology services must maximize cybersecurity. Fortunately, security experts have analyzed potential risks to cloud-based telecardiology systems. One study in Telemed JE Health pinpoints three key risk-reducing security features:
- Secure authentication
- Load balancers (network and application)
- Software-defined, object-based secure storage technology
These features enable a telecardiology system that can adapt to different contexts, yet stay secure.
Another advanced cybersecurity feature is PACS. PACS is an acronym of, “picture archiving communication system.” This is the industry-standard method to store medical imaging data.
PACS enables providers to store medical images safely on off-site servers. Authorized users can access the images from anywhere in the world.
6. Ideal Team Structure, Organization
To get the best possible telecardiology results, it’s wise to implement the best structural practices as well as technology. In 2020, researchers analyzed how well telecardiology services improved patient outcomes. Analysts identified organizational structures that facilitated better patient outcomes than others.
The best telecardiology units were organized to manage high volumes of relevant clinical data, with little-to-no delay. They also emphasized appropriate reactions to alerts, and they supported fast, evidence-based interventions in clinical problems as they arose.
Well-structured telecardiology assigns specific, non-overlapping responsibilities to each type of team member. It also implements checks that ensure all tasks are completed. And, it automates critical data-sharing and verification tasks.
7. Interpret Echocardiogram, CTA With Collaborative Communication
Collaborative communication enables the most accurate possible interpretation of medical tests. For electrocardiograms and CTA imaging, key information can completely alter a diagnosis or course of treatment. Relevant information includes:
- Patient’s medical history
- Imaging parameters
- Context of the image within the body
- Patient input data, patient education
- Notifications and alerts
- Previous physician identification
- Lab results
- Scores on cardio tests
- Current drug therapies
Automated data collection and transmission can reduce human input errors. But, it risks replicating existing errors. To counter this, it’s critical to implement verification every time data changes hands.
Consider developing communications checklists for each test type. There are specific data sets relevant to communicating echocardiogram results. These differ, somewhat, from the relevant data for a coronary calcium scan.
8. Semantic Interoperability
Semantic interoperability means two or more computers can communicate easily. That is, each computer talks to the other in a “language” it understands. In a network, computers are all talking to one another constantly.
In a telecardiology system, many different types of client computers (programs) will request data from servers. To keep the service up and running, maintaining semantic interoperability is critical. The best way to do this will change as technology evolves.
One review published in Healthcare Informatics Research compared unique technological approaches to semantically interoperable electronic health records (EHRs). This ensures patients have access to their own records, regardless of what device they use.
Other researchers have focused on ECG data specifically. A study published in Journal of Biomedical Informatics recommends an ECG reference ontology. This standard reference will enable interoperability across previously heterogenous ECG concepts.
9. WHO Framework for Telemedicine Service
In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed a telemedicine framework. The framework organized research on how best to create an effective telemedicine service. It breaks down the best approaches into the following categories:
- Concept
- Implementation
- Strategy
- Organization
- Public Policy
- Development
- Evaluation and Optimization
Healthcare organizations can apply the WHO framework to telecardiology services. Even an existing telecardiology service can be optimized or better supported.
It’s worthwhile to use the document to analyze a telecardiology service systematically. That analysis may suggest telecardiology best practices unique to your context.
10. Easy System Access
Finally, make sure authorized medical professionals can access necessary information without undue delays. Speed ensures patients get the diagnostic and assessment work they need as soon as possible.
Increasingly, easy system access includes those who access data from mobile devices. The journal Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computer Life Sciences has published proposed designs for mobile-compatible telecardiology systems. As mobile devices become more powerful, they will be increasingly integrated into healthcare overall. Telecardiology is no exception.
Cardiologist Expertise, No Matter Where You Are
Heart patients need cardiologists’ expertise. Telecardiology delivers that expertise worldwide.
Whether you need echocardiogram results or CTA, consider Specialists Direct services. Our board-certified cardiologists deliver the highest level of clinical care across the United States. Contact us today, and we’ll schedule a consultation, absolutely free.
