According to the American Hospital Association, about 75% of the US health centers now use virtual care to connect consulting practitioners with patients at a distance through technology. Receiving and giving healthcare through video conferencing or phone is not a new thing. Telehealth has been there for decades, but what’s new about it, is its importance.
In this time of global crisis where people are limited to move up and down, telehealth services in San Jose come in handy to keep patients safe and healthy. Today, many telehealth platforms have the following benefits.
- Decreases Rural Barriers to Care
Most rural areas have isolated landscapes, making it hard for people to access healthcare. However, telehealth services reduce the burden that patients face, like transportation, and to some extent, it may enhance timeliness, communication, and monitoring in healthcare.
While most telehealth platforms use videoconferencing to connect patients with healthcare providers, other forms can also be used, including:
- MHealth (mobile health communication)
- RPM (remote patient monitoring)
- Enhances Patient Engagement
With chronic health problems rising every day, using telehealth for remote monitoring is one-way doctors can improve the results of their service. The increasing responsibility of value-based reimbursement and consumerism in telehealth has made medical centers to use new communication methods to talk to patients. For proactive treatment, physicians can use those communication methods to educate patients on managing their chronic conditions.
- Cuts the Costs
Remote analysis services, such as telepathology, may lead to lower costs because they enable experts to serve as a pooled resource. Using these remote services can also enable low-volume medical professionals to have around the clock coverage at an affordable cost.
By providing telehealth appointments, healthcare providers may reduce unused capacity, which goes to waste. With this, medical officers can stop or start accepting patients depending on their availability. Although this will reduce their monthly income, the experts will offer a visit to remote patients at a cheaper rate, lower than those they usually provide.
- Covers a Wide Range of Services
Telehealth services manifest in different ways; all centered on communications and data transfer. Based on the economic resources available, there are different methods of distributing medical information. In America, most clinics and hospitals use dedicated networks to transmit and share data. This might be channeled through dedicated data lines or the internet. Today, there are thousands of similar networks in the US, linking millions of healthcare facilities together.
Thanks to technology, CT scans and X-rays can be distributed from one physician to another. With broadband transmission, medical experts can send images from their point of capture to specialists who require them. This has allowed professionals to centralize the analysis and acquisition of such information regardless of geographic barriers. However, telehealth is not limited to such services alone – it can also offer:
- Training to medical providers
- A platform for administrative meetings
- Medical education
The Bottom Line!
Digital technologies fuel telehealth activities to allow patients to reimagine a physician’s visit as a house call without necessarily traveling to any medical center. With many telehealth platforms, patients can now enjoy a wide range of services, cut the medical costs, and get help regardless of their geographical location. Therefore, telehealth services can be the solution you need to be safe and manage your chronic illness.