Three key changes to telehealth could help it live up to its full potential to serve older adults, new research suggests.

A West Health survey of 208 people aged 65 and over explored their telehealth experiences (audio only and/or video) in place of in-person visits with their primary care provider. Most respondents, including people aged 75 and over, liked their telehealth experience and appreciated telehealth’s convenience and time savings, wrote the researchers in a recent editorial in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

While respondents acknowledged the benefits of in-person visits, a majority thought telehealth should remain a covered option post pandemic, wrote researchers Liane Wardlow, Ph.D., and West Health’s Chief Medical Officer Zia Agha, along with their collaborators from University of North Carolina and University of Pittsburgh.

However, among older patients, “we see that telemedicine falls short in many important ways,” said Wardlow in a statement. “The problem is that remote healthcare delivery simply wasn’t designed with the needs of older people in mind.”

The authors recommend telehealth providers incorporate these guidelines to best serve older adults:

• Be person-centered to enable visits where patients feel connected and heard.
• Be equitable and accessible to people of all backgrounds, as well as to those with possible cognitive impairment and those living in areas where quick Internet access isn’t a given.
• Be integrated and coordinated with patients’ overall care plans; providers should also understand the patient’s social support structure and ability to obtain prescribed medications.

Providers must also be trained in skills unique to offering remote care to older adults.

“Without these guard rails, telehealth may further segment care, thereby increasing the chances of low-value care while further exacerbating health inequities,” the authors wrote. “With these guardrails in place, however, telehealth has the potential to realize its promise of improving access to high-value, equitable, safe, timely and convenient care to older adults.”

The authors are among key drivers in the creation of a national Center of Excellence for Telehealth and Aging, which is developing first-ever industry guidelines for age-inclusive telehealth, according to the statement.

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