What is the first thing that comes before you when one mentions about the US healthcare system? Sadly, we think about the crisis that the system is facing in the form of overcrowded clinics, waiting for appointments, high costs, insurance issues etc.
But medical professionals want to change this scene for the better. It is for this reason that they are turning to a rational option and that is telemedicine. This is a channel that lets the doctor treat the patient remotely. The patient can get the best healthcare advice without venturing out of his house.
However, there are people who are not able to embrace this practical solution. They still feel that the traditional way of physical visits to the clinics is a better option. Now instead of speculating whether telemedicine is a logical approach or a complicated line of action it is better to check with experts from the field of medicine. You will come across many experts from the medical field who have successfully implemented telemedicine in their medical facility.
Understanding the concept of telemedicine:
Telemedicine connects the doctors with the patients remotely with the help of a digital connection. If the patient has to show some physical symptoms then he can opt for video calling. Here the communication will be in real-time.
Medical practitioners also have the option of asynchronous telemedicine. This is not real-time communication. It involves the use of emails and messaging.
A look at the statistics will give you a better idea about the growing popularity of telemedicine. The US has 200 telemedicine networks. In 2018 more than 7 million people used this type of service. It is expected that these figures will keep increasing in the next few years.
The Oakland, California based American integrated managed care consortium Kaiser Permanente is making use of telephone calls, emails and video chats to provide consultation to patients. An important thing to be noted here is that this centre is considering all this as doctor’s office visits.
Health insurance company Cigna is also helping the patients to connect with doctors round the clock with the help of telemedicine. Companies like Alpha Medical, Curology, Talkspace, First Opinion are also opting for this type of options.
Telemedicine is for all those people who need to seek the advice of the doctor but cannot connect with the doctor in person. This includes all those patients who do not have insurance (according to the report of US Census Bureau the number of Americans who do not have insurance is increasing), patients who do not have time to visit the medical facility or are living in remote locations or are just too ill to visit the doctor’s clinic.
However, telemedicine is not an option in emergency conditions and surgeries where a visit to the medical facility is mandatory. The patient also cannot choose telemedicine when he has to get lab tests done.
But is telemedicine a viable solution?
The digital healthcare company Alpha Medical focuses on women’s health issues. Alpha Medical’s Dr Mary Jacobson and Gloria Lau feel that more than 70% of health conditions can be treated remotely. The aim of this company is to help the patients get the best, convenient healthcare option at competitive rates.
For example, skin conditions like acne can be treated by the dermatologist remotely. But in case of emergency situations, Alpha Medical will help the patient find a nearby clinic and will help the patient make an appointment.
According to this company, one of the main reasons for inefficiency in a healthcare clinic is overcrowding. Due to overcrowding patients are not able to get appointments quickly. Patients have to wait for long hours at the clinic. Due to the long patient queues in the facility, the doctors tend to rush through the appointments. All this results in frustration to both the patient as well as the doctor. Also, there are chances that the patient may not get the best treatment.
The aim of this company is to prevent patients with non-serious conditions to visit the doctor’s office. This, in turn, will help in avoiding overcrowding and people who need emergency healthcare will get appointments with ease.
Telemedicine- A mammoth step towards better healthcare:
Dr Vandna Mittal, MPH, the director of Digital Health Services at Stanford Children’s Health says that they make use of different types of telemedicine methods. They provide psychiatric care for children in smaller cities by using the clinic-to-clinic option. Here a medical practitioner will physically examine the child and the speciality expert will provide his advice by teleconferencing. Here telemedicine is helping in removing the geographic barriers. It is enabling children from smaller cities to get better treatment.
According to Chris O’Dell, administrative director of Digital Health Strategy and Alliances for Stanford Health Care telemedicine is a good option for surgery patients. They can easily get their post-operative wound checkup done through telemedicine.
But are there any issues?
Some experts feel that there are few problems associated with telemedicine. Dr David Duke, MD, a physician advisor at Dignity Health points out that this system cannot be a complete replacement for the existing option of visiting the medical facility.
According to him, there are chances that the patient may not be able to give the correct details of the symptoms. As a result, the doctor will not be able to make the diagnosis properly. This can have adverse effects on the patient’s health.
But still, telemedicine is a viable option for better healthcare:
Though Dr Duke feels that telemedicine cannot replace the traditional method he too emphasizes on the various benefits of this system. According to him, telemedicine is one of the best ways to enhance the patient experience. It can also help in reducing the inefficiencies that are associated with the healthcare system.
Telemedicine is surely one of the best ways to provide cost-effective and convenient healthcare to patients. As pointed out by the past president of the American Telemedicine association Dr Peter Yellowlees that telemedicine is navigating us towards hybrid healthcare which will be a combination of digital healthcare solution and in-person healthcare solutions.
It is important that your healthcare facility also adopts this hybrid healthcare method at the earliest. It is time to choose Doxiva- Doctor’s Intelligent Virtual Assistant. It supports Asynchronous and Synchronous models of Telehealth and is HIPAA compliant. To know more about the different features of this amazing product connect with team Doxiva for a free demo.
