During the pandemic, remote treatment strategies expectedly became the norm. That experience has led to an increase in the adoption of telemedicine services today, as recent reports show that nearly 80% of people preferred it, compared to 19% in 2019. From all indications, it’s a time for healthcare software development services and related digital services to flourish and meet the growing demand for telemedicine solutions.
What You Need To Know About Telemedicine?
Telemedicine is derived from the Latin and Greek words “medicus” and “tele,” respectively. Combined, they mean “healing at a distance.” Telemedicine is therefore considered a method of healing primarily adopted in situations where direct care is unnecessary or unavailable. Space missions, pandemic periods, emergency care, and remote areas are instances where telemedicine proves to be invaluable.
The World Health Organization put the definition of telemedicine this way: The delivery of healthcare services, where distance is a critical factor, by all healthcare professionals using information and communication technologies for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation and for the continuing education of healthcare providers, all in the interests of advancing the health of individuals and their communities.
This comprehensive definition by WHO helps us understand that telemedicine is a method of medical communication, and it benefits both healthcare providers and patients alike. With telemedicine, healthcare professionals can make diagnoses, prescribe medications and give follow-up care through available information and communication technologies.
According to multiple sources, telemedicine falls into three broad categories. They are real-time interactive services, store-and-forward and remote monitoring. However, a study showing that remote patient monitoring is the most available telemedicine service in the US put it into four categories, adding mHealth as the fourth.
Examples of Apps Used for Telemedicine
Telemedicine apps are software used for real-time monitoring of patient’s health and connecting with healthcare providers online. Healthcare organisations and specialists are actively adopting them because they enable and support digital therapy, treatment of chronic conditions, and remote monitoring. Currently, there are over 250k telemedicine or telehealth apps on Android and iOS. Here are a few examples for the purpose of this post.
- Live Health Online: LiveHealth Online allows patients to connect with licensed healthcare providers in 10 minutes or less. The company accepts health insurance plans from multiple providers to reduce service costs. As of this writing, Live Health Online has over 500K+ downloads on Google Play, rating 4.5 stars on average.
- Doctor on Demand: Doctor on Demand facilitates connections with a broad spectrum of certified and knowledgeable medical and mental health professionals. Individuals can access urgent care and book appointments for preventive care consultation. It also offers insurance to cut down costs.
- Talk space: With Talkspace, patients can connect with licensed therapists anytime, anywhere. The platform offers online therapy services that it describes as flexible and private.
What Are The Benefits Of Telemedicine?
- Improved and Increased availability of healthcare resources: According to reports from WHO, telemedicine apps have made a big difference in medical care for people in poorer countries. Now, faraway doctors can use these apps to check up on patients, diagnose their conditions, provide treatment options, and even follow up with them.
For example, EHR APIs can be integrated with remote patient monitoring devices or telemedicine apps to capture health data remotely. With that, healthcare professionals can promptly monitor patient health and receive alerts for deterioration.
2. Knowledge-sharing among experts: Collaboration among healthcare practitioners has become more seamless and efficient with telemedicine platforms. Through electronic health records (EHRs) software, for example, practitioners can share patient information and exchange ideas in a timely and secure manner.
3. Cost-effective: Telemedicine services can reduce or eliminate travel-related expenses and the stress accompanying them. This is particularly beneficial for those facing financial constraints or spatial and temporal limits.
4. Less anxiety: Not everybody likes to visit the doctor or the hospital for health care. With telemedicine, patients can overcome agoraphobia because they will be receiving medical consultations and treatment from the comfort of their homes.
Telemedicine vs Telehealth
Telemedicine and telehealth are often used interchangeably in everyday conversation to mean accessing healthcare through information and communication technologies. However, there is a selective usage of each word by many professionals and organisations to refer to different things.
Statista makes a clear differentiation, stating that telemedicine is an older term that primarily pertains to clinical applications, while telehealth takes a broader perspective by including consumer-focused approaches. This differentiation is similar to that of the American Academy of Family Practitioners (AAFP), which says, “Telemedicine refers specifically to remote clinical services, while telehealth can refer to remote non-clinical services.”
In these two definitions, we see that “telemedicine” and “telehealth” are used interchangeably to refer to remote healthcare services, but there is a distinction in their scope. For example, a video call with a doctor to diagnose and treat any medical condition remotely will be a telemedicine service. In contrast, telehealth will go beyond that to include all remote healthcare services offered by nurses, physicians, pharmacists, caregivers and other healthcare practitioners.
In a nutshell, while all telemedicine services are part of telehealth, not all telehealth services fall under the category of telemedicine, according to experts.
Summary
With all its limitations, including the inability to perform hands-on clinical examinations and the occasional technical glitches, telemedicine has proven to be a valuable and convenient alternative for accessing healthcare services. This is evident in the consistent rise in the adoption of telemedicine services every year since the 2019 pandemic. And the future looks promising as the global market is expected to reach about $460 billion by 2030.
