How Telemedicine is Transforming Health Care?

Admin • 2021.08.11

Patient care is not as it was. How telemedicine is transforming health care? What health information are available with technology? Is it the solution to treat chronic conditions more efficiently and recognize high-risk diseases earlier? 

The transforming healthcare

Telehealth services are gaining new users. Due to the coronavirus crisis, people started avoiding personal encounters, preferring online services more than the traditional personal approach. 

With modern technology, any room can transform into an emergency room. Wearable devices, modern portable equipment are helping disease management and can be used for urgent care too.

The modern, transforming healthcare industry is about saving time and money, supporting every person in need 24/7. 

What is telemedicine in healthcare?

The benefits of telehealth are referring to a broader scope of remote services than telemedicine. Telehealth includes every clinical and non-clinical remote service, while telemedicine is a subset of telehealth that includes telecommunication services, to provide a supporting medical advice system to patients.

For example, a WHO videoconference organized for doctors to share knowledge is part of telehealth, but a quick video call between the doctor and a patient is referred to as telemedicine. 

How telemedicine is transforming health care?

A telemedicine software is transforming the whole healthcare industry.  Health care will never be the same again: new health insurance plans are emerging using real-time patient data to customize their plans.

For now, we can still sense distrust about telemedicine. ‘How will the doctor know my symptoms and thus, my treatment?’ – you may ask. The answer is easier than you would expect: it is the doctors’ job to ask the right questions and set up a diagnosis based on your answers.

How is telemedicine used?

Telemedicine is mainly used in three different ways:

• Real-time video conferencing and advising
• Remote monitoring (mostly after surgeries)
• Store-and-forward information sharing

Telemedicine is fully digital. The doctors take fully digital notes about the patient and store them in a database. From that, the data can be easily forwarded if needed.

Remote monitoring is useful, that way blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar levels, and other useful data will be available. With automated remote monitoring, a doctor can see from the patient’s data if a new meeting is necessary or not.

Where is telemedicine used?

Telemedicine is used in developed countries for now, but the goal is to spread this technology to rural areas. Healthcare providers should reach out to developing countries and the countryside, to ‘address the crowd’. 

Remote patient monitoring provides a solution for developing countries that have a shortage of doctors. With telemedicine, everyone can reach out to a doctor who will reply as soon as possible.

Problems with telemedicine

However patients do not need many devices to try telemedicine, availability and cost might be the biggest disadvantage of a changing world. Switching to new devices, setting up and maintaining servers, paying the fees of telemedicine software can be expensive. 

The quality of telemedicine can be better, but only with better devices such as smartphones and smartwatches. In telemedicine, video conferencing is important, a 4K video can help to recognize symptoms more easily – but people in rural areas do not have this opportunity.

For now, telemedicine looks like a good option for companies to empower their employees to live healthier lives. After that, when people have enough confidence to use telemedicine on their own, a big positive change in user numbers can be expected. 

Summary: impact of telemedicine in healthcare

The healthcare system is changing, the innovation in healthcare insurance is inevitable. Digital solutions taking over while people are trying to live, move, and eat more healthily. 

For now, mainly companies are using telemedicine technology to motivate their employees, boost their productivity, and cut the company’s insurance costs. It’s also a good employer branding tool, making the workplace more likable, and the colleagues more loyal.

Interested? Check our plans and try our telemedicine features!