Telemedicine

Telemedicine Definition

A tool that makes healthcare more accessible, cost-effective, and that increases patient engagement – is telemedicine. Since making its debut in the late 1950’s, advances in telemedicine have contributed to seniors having the choice to age in place. In addition, the patients that reside in rural areas that previously had difficulties accessing a physician, can now reach them virtually.

Physicians and patients can share information in real time from one computer screen to another. And they can even see and capture readings from medical devices at a faraway location. Using telemedicine software, patients can see a doctor for diagnosis and treatment without having to wait for an appointment. Patients can consult a physician at the comfort of their home.

The concept of telemedicine and telehealth could be still new to providers and physicians given the especially slow adoption of technology in healthcare.

However, the continue advances in technology and healthcare innovation has greatly expands its usability. Moreover, the demand from new generation of tech savvy population has pushed for its rapid adoption due to convenience, cost saving and intelligent features it brings.

It’s now a matter of time for healthcare system, medical group, providers and even solo practitioner integrate telemedicine as part of their medical services offering.

What is Telemedicine Healthcare

Telemedicine is simply defined as, the remote delivery of healthcare services. There are 3 common types of telemedicine, which include but not limited to:

1. Interactive Medicine – which allows patients and physicians to communicate in real-time
2. Store and Forward – which permits providers to share patient information with a practitioner in another location.
3. Remote Patient Monitoring – which allows remote caregivers to monitor patients that reside at home by using mobile medical devices to collect data (e.g. blood sugar or blood pressure)

How is telemedicine set up?

It can be simple or complex for a provider to implement telemedicine into their practice. For practitioner and clinic, most just require a basic video conference software to start delivering telemedicine consultation.

For providers looking to have a more complete virtual clinic solution, they need to consider their existing workflow and incorporate the telemedicine software solution into their practice. Usually these software need to have waiting room, EHR and payment function.

For large medical group or hospitals, they usually requires custom telehealth solution to fit into their existing workflow to lessen the disruption of adopting telemedicine as its harder to train large number of physicians to change their behavior.

Besides the software part, it’s adivisable for provider to do due diligence on the telehealth regulations, and reimbursement policy for their country or state, which will be discussed later in this article.

Organizations will have to change operationally and have knowledge of the regulations, legalities, and technological aspects of implementing telemedicine. Many organizations decide to partner with a telemedicine company to make the transition and implementation easier.

How is it Conducted?

Telemedicine is conducted in a number of ways. The most basic is just a simple video call (like you normally do with family and friends), however most countries required secured video conference tool, so telemedicine company also provides this kind of secure and simple to use solution for providers.

There are also some telemedicine is conducted with portable telemedicine kits that include a computer and mobile medical devices, such as ECGs or vital signs monitors. High resolution digital cameras are also available for physicians to send detailed medical images to specialists.

Lastly, there is robust telemedicine software that allows everything from data storage to live video conferencing. Overall, there are many innovative telemedicine equipment to meet the various needs of patients today.

What are the difference between Telemedicine & Telehealth

In the last decade, rapid advances in medicine and technology have resulted in the use of new terms. Policymakers, healthcare systems, advocacy groups, and vendors may unknowingly use terms incorrectly when discussing medicine and technology. This is especially true when it comes to the terms, telemedicine and telehealth. Although the words are often used interchangeably, there is certainly a difference between the two.

What is Telemedicine?

The World Health Organization (WHO) refers to telemedicine as healing from a distance. It is the use of telecommunications technology and information technologies to provide remote clinical services to patients. Physicians use telemedicine for the transmission of digital imaging, video consultations, and remote medical diagnosis.

Today, individuals no longer have to schedule an in-person visit with a physician to receive treatment. The use of secure video and audio connections makes it possible for specialists to treat patients who reside in locations with limited access to care.

What is Telehealth?

HealthIT.gov defines telehealth as the utilization of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support and promote long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health education, public health and health administration.

While this definition sounds a lot like telemedicine, there is one distinct difference. Unlike telemedicine, telehealth also covers non-clinical events like administrative meetings, continuing medical education (CME), and physician training. Telehealth is not a specific service, but a collection of methods to improve patient care and education delivery.

In general, one can think of telehealth as all-encompassing, as telemedicine and telecare fall under its umbrella.

Telemedicine and Telehealth

The terms telemedicine and telehealth bring with them plenty of debate among individuals in the healthcare field. One reason for this debate is due to the varying definitions pertaining to the terms themselves. Some experts consider telemedicine to be physician focused and telehealth to include all health professionals in general.

As technology in the medical field continues to advance, the two terms will likely become more distinguishable. With these advances, there are fortunately industry experts that keep up with the varying changes for physicians and hospitals. Healthcare organizations interested in implementing telehealth or telemedicine do not have to do so alone.