Telemedicine Users Before Pandemic vs. After Pandemic

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 50 million individuals worldwide utilized telemedicine services. However, in the wake of the pandemic, there has been a seismic surge in telemedicine adoption, with an astonishing 200% increase in users. This exponential growth underscores the growing acceptance and reliance on virtual care solutions to meet healthcare needs.

Hospitals Based on Telemedicine Technology Raised

Virtual consultation has transcended its niche status to become an integral component of healthcare delivery, especially in hospital settings. Recent statistics reveal that 60% of hospitals have embraced telemedicine technology, marking a significant 40% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, an overwhelming 70% of hospitals now offer telemedicine services as their primary mode of healthcare delivery, reflecting a paradigm shift in patient care practices.

Benefits of Telemedicine

The benefits of telemedicine are multifaceted, offering a myriad of advantages for both patients and healthcare providers alike. Firstly, telemedicine enhances accessibility to healthcare services, particularly for individuals residing in remote or underserved areas. Through virtual consultations, patients can access medical care conveniently from the comfort of their homes, eliminating geographical barriers.

Additionally, telemedicine promotes patient convenience by facilitating virtual appointments, thereby reducing the need for time-consuming and costly visits to healthcare facilities. This not only saves patients valuable time and resources but also promotes adherence to treatment plans and follow-up appointments.

Moreover, telemedicine plays a pivotal role in cost containment within the healthcare sector. By minimizing unnecessary hospital visits and travel expenses, telemedicine reduces overall healthcare expenditures while optimizing resource utilization. This cost-effective approach ensures efficient allocation of healthcare resources, benefiting both patients and healthcare systems.

Furthermore, telemedicine enhances patient outcomes by enabling timely interventions and follow-ups. Through remote monitoring and virtual consultations, healthcare providers can proactively address health concerns, leading to improved health outcomes and reduced hospital readmissions.

Lastly, telemedicine fosters enhanced communication between patients and healthcare providers, fostering greater engagement and collaboration in the healthcare decision-making process. By facilitating seamless interaction and information exchange, telemedicine strengthens the patient-provider relationship, ultimately enhancing the quality of care delivered.

Predicted Telemedicine Growth in the US

Looking ahead, the future of telemedicine appears exceptionally promising, with a projected annual growth rate of 30% in usage within the United States. By 2025, the telemedicine market in the US is forecast to soar to a staggering $250 billion, underscoring its burgeoning significance in the healthcare industry. Additionally, it is estimated that by 2025, 60% of all healthcare visits will be conducted via telemedicine platforms, reflecting the widespread adoption and acceptance of virtual care solutions.

Wrapping UP

Telemedicine has emerged as a transformative force in modern healthcare, revolutionizing the delivery of medical services and redefining patient care paradigms. As healthcare landscapes evolve, DrCare247 leads the charge in telemedicine innovation. With its intuitive interface and patient-focused approach, DrCare247 revolutionizes healthcare delivery. Join us and embrace a future of connected, efficient, and patient-centric care.

The post Revolutionizing Healthcare Delivery: The Evolution of Telemedicine appeared first on DrCare247.

The post DrCare247 V3.0 Uplifted: A Gamechanger for Telemedicine  appeared first on DrCare247.

• Reimbursement and Payment Policies

One of the most significant factors affecting the viability of telehealth is reimbursement and payment policies. Currently, reimbursement for telehealth services varies widely by commercial and government (state and federal) payers, which can make it difficult for providers to offer telehealth as a viable alternative to in-person visits. In addition, some payers have restricted coverage for telehealth services, particularly for patients with certain types of insurance plans.

To ensure the sustainability of telehealth, policymakers must work to establish consistent reimbursement and payment policies across all insurers and providers. This will not only encourage providers to offer telehealth services but also ensure that patients have access to the care they need, regardless of their insurance coverage.

• Technology and Infrastructure

Another crucial factor is technology and infrastructure. As telehealth continues to expand, it is essential that healthcare providers have access to the latest technology and infrastructure to support virtual consultations effectively. This includes high-speed internet, secure communication platforms, and remote monitoring tools.

Alongside this, healthcare providers must be trained in the use of telehealth technology and platforms to ensure that patients receive high-quality care. To achieve this, policymakers and healthcare organizations must work together to invest in the technology and infrastructure needed to support telehealth services.

• Patient Acceptance and Adoption

The success of telehealth also depends on patient acceptance and adoption. While many patients have embraced telehealth as a convenient and accessible way to receive care, others may be hesitant to try virtual consultations. This could be due to concerns about the quality of care provided or the privacy and security of their medical information.

To address these concerns, healthcare providers must work to educate patients about the benefits of telehealth and the steps they take to ensure the security and privacy of their medical information. Additionally, policymakers can play a role in encouraging patient adoption by offering incentives or discounts for patients who choose telehealth services.

• Regulatory Environment

Varying regulations governing telehealth services may create confusion and uncertainty for providers and patients alike. To ensure the viability of telehealth, policymakers must work to establish consistent and comprehensive regulatory frameworks for telehealth services. This will provide clarity and certainty for providers and patients.

Telehealth services must adhere to the regulatory framework set by the healthcare industry. This includes data privacy and security, clinical standards, licensing, and certification of healthcare providers. This helps to ensure that telehealth services are delivered safely and effectively.

• Integration with Conventional Care

While telehealth has shown great potential as a tool for expanding access to care, it cannot replace conventional in-person visits entirely. Therefore, it is essential that telehealth services be integrated with traditional care to ensure that patients receive the most comprehensive and effective care possible. This can be achieved by developing coordinated care plans that incorporate telehealth services as part of a broader care strategy. Additionally, healthcare providers can work to develop partnerships and collaborations with other providers and organizations to ensure that patients receive the most comprehensive and coordinated care possible.

Based on these factors, we can assume that telehealth has everything it needs for a promising and long-term future. But we must continue to focus our attention on telehealth service expansion into more clinically diverse areas, wearable technology integration and standardization, and tackling the growing access issue in underserved rural and urban areas. Telehealth will undoubtedly play a crucial role in the development of healthcare delivery in the future, despite the opportunities and problems that lie ahead.

The post Five Factors That Decide the Sustainability of Telehealth appeared first on DrCare247.

The post 4 Important Points to Consider While Choosing a Customized Telehealth Platform appeared first on DrCare247.

The post Is Telehealth a Better Option Than Conventional Treatment for Minor Ailments? appeared first on DrCare247.

Remote Patient Monitoring or RPM is a method of healthcare delivery that uses connected devices to collect the patient’s data and transfers the data using the information technology. Monitoring the data received from these connected devices are helpful to assess the patient’s current condition quickly and efficiently.

Perspective towards traditional healthcare system is evolving during this post-pandemic period. The advancement in information technology especially in healthcare IT, playing a major role and has an impact in every individual. Now a days, the connected devices are everywhere. Every smartphone and wearable devices that you are using is already collecting the vitals such as your walking steps, running or jogging and other vitals.

With the high need for remote technology in delivering healthcare, the providers or the hospitals should start implementing the RPM to their existing HIMS or telehealth system. There are few notable features and benefits that you should know before getting into it.

Patient-centric design and experience

The patients are the foremost users of the technology or the software platform, next to the doctors and healthcare providers. The UI has to be simple, easy to navigate and self-explained for ease of use. Therefore, the user interface should reflect the needs, experiences, and limitations of the patients. Some of the features that can improve the user experience are as follows. 

• Simple login/sign-in process
• Upright font size, images, and icons
• No unnecessary elements or longer texts
• Reduce patient time learning to use the new device
• Offer remote translation of language
• Display relevant content 

Data management and security compliance

Ensure the safety of your patients by ensuring the security and compliances of the platform or the software you choose. The connected RPM devices are capable of transmitting the vitals such as heart rate, blood sugar level, BP, weight, SPO2, etc., Make sure the devices you choose for remote monitoring is adhere with all the compliances according to the governing law.

The data collected from these devices must be stored and managed secure HIPAA infra structure.

RPM integrated with EMR

The data your RPM device collects from your patient is a crucial part of their health record. EMR enables long-term efficient management of data. If an RPM is integrated with an EMR, it is easy for a faster and proactive patient care. The measurable data can be easily tracked with remote patient monitoring. 

Decision support module

Remote patient monitoring should support, data-driven decision-making. The collected data from these devices would enable providers to track the symptoms and plan accordingly to provide the proactive care to their patients. Ultimately, the patients will get personalized care.

Notification and alerts

The whole RPM system is relying on transferring the patient data collected via connected devices. If the RPM solution you choose is not capable of setting up the custom-rules to trigger the necessary alerts, then none of the users can be beneficial from the system.

The post 5 Key Points to Consider Before Choosing Your RPM Technology Partner appeared first on DrCare247.

The post What is Telemedicine? appeared first on DrCare247.

Telehealth solutions are at the reach of your hands. It works with any internet enabled device. It may be a PC, desktop, tablet or even your smart phone can help you connect with the provider of your choice without a need to leaving your home. You are no longer needed to worry or wait to get consulted for your everyday health concerns with low cost comparing the regular ER or urgent care visit.

Telemedicine visits can be helpful in many ways covering wide range of issues and conditions. Through this service, which is guided by strict compliances, clinical guidelines, patients have a safe, cost-effective way to receive medical advice. Patient can get treated using this service for minor acute conditions such as,

• Allergies, Flu, pink eyes, rashes, UTI, poison ivy, etc.

And the chronic conditions such as,

• Mental health issues, counselling, etc.

Board certified providers can diagnose and even can prescribe non-narcotic medication through the Telehealth platform online without seeing a patient in person, made possible by video and image-sharing capabilities during a web-based telemedicine interaction.

With the technology advancements, there are handful of modern healthcare groups are even moving forward using the Telehealth technology to do the post-operation follow up visits.

There are still more to it to list out the areas that Telehealth technology can work better. Get more information and insights from our experts through a free demo.

The post How Does Telemedicine Work? appeared first on DrCare247.

Even if individuals have been using the telemedicine platform without reluctance, there are still some typical questions among those who wish to gain a comprehensive understanding of telemedicine. Here arise many questions about telemedicine like what is telemedicine, what is the role of telemedicine in healthcare, etc. Below are answers to some frequently asked questions about telemedicine. 

1. What is the difference between telehealth and telemedicine?  

“Tele” is a Greek word that means “distance,” while “mederi” is a Latin word that means “to heal.” So, the term telemedicine refers to the mental and physical healing of a person or patient via electronic communication (i.e., electronic distance communication between healthcare professionals and patients) and modern telehealth software that allows healthcare providers to effectively treat and diagnose patients. 

There are no significant differences between telehealth and telemedicine.  

Telehealth refers to a medium in which the provider and the patient communicate via telecommunications technology. 

Telemedicine is the delivery of clinical care, therapies, and medications to patients by means of telecommunications technology. 

2. What are some must-have telemedicine features and how do patients get access to them?

• Audio and video-enabled conferencing 
• Consultation summary generation 
• HIPAA compliant communication 
• Remote scheduling and appointments 
• Digital prescription or ePrescription 
• Browser-based web application architecture 
• 3^rd party API integration capabilities 

Prepare for the telemedicine revolution by selecting a software client that includes all of the characteristics outlined. It’s time to revamp your hospital’s healthcare delivery strategy and position it as a top destination for telemedicine providers. 

Therefore, Patients can get access to these telemedicine features with minimal requirements such as using internet-enabled smart devices, preferring the right telemedicine provider and being settled with the quit/well-lit room for better video/audio conferencing. 

3. What are the common ailments and problems that can be diagnosed using telemedicine?

• Sinusitis 
• Ear Infection (Otitis, Swimmers Ear) 
• Alcohol Use Disorder 
• STD Treatment 
• Urinary Tract Infection 
• Sore throat, Tonsillitis 
• Laryngitis 
• Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye) 
• Seasonal Allergies 
• Erectile Dysfunction (ED) 
• Herpes 
• Vaginal Yeast Infections 
• Depression/Anxiety 
• Upper Respiratory Tract Infection 
• Bronchitis (no history of asthma) 
• Upper Respiratory Infection 
• Mild Wheezing 
• Flu (Influenza) 
• Poison Ivy /Poison Oak 
• Contact Dermatitis 
• Acne 
• Refill Medication 
• Tooth Ache/ Tooth Infection 

4. Is telemedicine as good as in-person healthcare? How its features help perform better? 

Telemedicine is the use of phone, video, internet, and technology to provide health care, and it can be just as effective as in-person care when done correctly. However, when many patients and health-care providers begin to use telemedicine the first time, there will undoubtedly be a learning curve as individuals adjust to this new system. 

So, how can a patient or a provider ensure that they are using telemedicine correctly? That depends on the technology available, the patient’s medical condition, and the risk of going to a health care office – or not going to one. 

5. What is the best way to establish a telemedicine business? Is telemedicine a good investment besides patient care? 

DrCare247 is a major telemedicine software provider, assisting hospitals and clinics in providing remote healthcare with confidence and reliability. We provide all the features mentioned in this article and many more.  

Ready for the telemedicine revolution by selecting a right software provider? It’s time to revamp your hospital’s healthcare delivery strategy and position it as a top destination for health and wellness! 

The healthcare industry has already started moving towards remote care to keep their customers satisfied in the years to come. As more companies invest in telemedicine platforms, patients will continue to benefit from these new digital services. Companies can get ahead of the competition by investing in these new platforms sooner rather than later. 

Book a FREE demo of DrCare247 telemedicine software! 

The post Telemedicine – 5 Commonly Asked Questions and Answers appeared first on DrCare247.