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The remote healthcare revolution: An investigation into HCPs’ perceptions of the evolving landscape – Part 3: Homecare
Covadonga Fernández del Pozo Bielza, Associate Director, Prod OpnsAnalytics Solutions
Carolina Ricarte, Director, Product Offering Development
Tom Woods, Senior Consultant, EMEA Thought Leadership
Jan 25, 2024

Remote healthcare has revolutionized healthcare delivery. While this shift was accelerated by the short-term need for accessing medical services during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has continued to become a more long-term trend, prompting the medical community to adopt a new approach to patient care.

The third and last article in a 3-part series will explore the insights around “At-home patient Management”. These results are based on the IQVIA primary market research “Remote patient care in 2023”.

Demand for long-term care, of which homecare forms a significant part, will inevitably increase in the future. In line with this trend, expectations about the possibilities for homecare have grown alongside.

As part of the survey, HCPs reported on their current level of involvement around home-patient care.

  • Overall, almost 75% of HCPs were involved in home care. Generally, GPs are more involved compared to the other specialties, with an average of 86% of doctors carrying out home visits. This is linked to the increased involvement GPs have with geriatric care, family medicine and certain chronic diseases compared to paediatricians, neurologists and psychiatrists.
  • At the same time, Italy and Spain show the highest overall HCP involvement in homecare across the four specialties in scope.

Many HCPs outlined multiple, significant benefits of offering care in a home setting.

  • 81% of doctors regarded “improving patient satisfaction” to be the main success factor, followed closely by “reducing barriers to healthcare access”. Not only can home visits can reduce stress for patients but can also contribute to improved disease monitoring. In turn, this can facilitate a better assessment around treatment progression and adjustments can be made as required.

HCPs also reported the challenges associated with delivering homecare at scale.

  • Homecare is labour-intensive and, in line with an aging population across many developed countries, there is a strong need to recruit and retain sufficiently qualified HCPs in the future.
  • 70% of doctors showed concern around the impact of homecare in their overall activity and workload (e.g., homecare visits often take more time when compared to treatment in a clinical setting). Travelling between multiple home visits is also time-consuming and logistically challenging, affecting HCPs’ schedules as well as their overall efficiency and impact.
  • 58% of HCPs reported that a lack of medical equipment is a risk factor for homecare. If limited diagnostic equipment is available then effective treatment decisions become more challenging.

To conclude, homecare is crucial in reducing barriers to healthcare access but there are challenges that need to be considered. Addressing these challenges requires innovation, HCP training, an efficient integration of technology, policy changes and a patient-centred approach to ensure the highest quality of care.

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