The Impact of Telemedicine on Healthcare

Telemedicine is the remote delivery of healthcare services using the telecommunication infrastructure. It allows health care professionals to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients at a distance. It basically aims at giving specialized medical consultancy from metro cities to semi urban or rural areas where such facilities are not available.

The practice of telemedicine largely breaks down into three types of solutions:

Store-and-Forward telemedicine

Also called “asynchronous telemedicine.” Store-and-Forward Telehealth involves the acquisition and storing of clinical information (e.g. data, image, sound, video) that is then forwarded to (or retrieved by) another site for clinical evaluation.

Remote Patient Monitoring

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a technology to enable monitoring of patients outside of conventional clinical settings (e.g. in the home), which may increase access to care and decrease healthcare delivery costs.

Real-time telemedicine

Interactive services can provide immediate advice to patients who require medical attention. There are several different mediums utilized for this purpose, including phone, online and home visits. A medical history and consultation about presenting symptoms can be undertaken, followed by assessment similar to those usually conducted in face-to-face appointments.

Applications of telemedicine include disaster relief, rural health, developing countries, correctional facilities, school-based health centers, mobile health clinics, shipping and transportation and industrial health.

Advantages of using telemedicine, as an alternative to in-person visits, is the reduction of costs for provider and patient alike. While patients enjoy less time away from work, no travel expenses or time, privacy and no exposure to other potentially contagious patients, providers enjoy increased revenue, improved office efficiency, an answer to the competitive threat of retail health clinics, better patient follow through & improved health outcomes, fewer missed appointments & cancellations and private payer reimbursement. One of the biggest opportunities telemedicine presents is increased access to health care.

There are few limitations as well as challenges though, like training on how to use telemedicine equipment, patients' fear and unfamiliarity, financial unavailability, lack of basic amenities and technical constraints.

Telemedicine will soon be seen as just another way of providing healthcare facility. Having said that, striking a smart balance between total dependence on computer solutions and the use of human intelligence may make all the difference in saving someone's life.