Being more than half a century old, telehealth technologies were increasingly attracting doctors and patients in the previous decade. According to Telehealth Index: 2019 Physician Survey by American Well, the percentage of US physicians eager to hold video consultations increased by over 12% between 2015 and 2019. The amount of those doubting in the Medicaid telemedicine dropped.
With the COVID-19 outbreak, it became obvious to most of Earth’s population that telemedicine is the future of healthcare, which is already here. Many medical institutions worldwide were forced to catch up with the newly imposed conditions and implement telehealth as quickly as possible.
Telemedicine Past and Present
In just a year from 2016 to 2017, a number of offering their patients some kind of interaction increased from 60% to 76%. At the same time, the amount of medical claims for telehealth services demonstrated an overwhelming growth intensified even more by the pandemic 2019. The industry is projected to exceed 13 billion USD by 2023. But let’s find out why the medicare telemedicine 2020 disrupts the standard sanctity doctor-patient relationship. The example of The USA can provide us with a perfect understanding of the present-day healthcare delivery challenges.
The major of them are:
- The shortage of providers,
- The increase in competition,
- The growing number of patients living with chronic diseases,
- Increasing costs of healthcare delivery,
- The growth of consumerism in healthcare.
Lots of people see the future of telehealth in telemedicine medical technologies because they already allow us to cope with certain challenges. Moreover, the benefits of telehealth are on the medical establishments' side as well as on the patients’.
The future of Telehealth - Telemedicine Medical Technologies
The usage of telemedicine has been acknowledged critical to managing the COVID pandemic, but how will telemedicine impact the future of healthcare?
Modern experts forecast 20-30% of routine visits will stay virtual even after the pandemic is conquered. Yet, the present-day short-term telemedicine solutions should be substituted with effective and reliable platforms. One should bear in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, for medical practices are too variable and too specific.
However, there are certain common telemedicine trends that suggest the directions of telemedicine solutions development.
They primarily lie in the domain of real-time data — acquisition and modeling, digital diagnostics, and more personalized doctor-patient contact. Let’s see into it in more detail.
Patient communication
We have already touched upon effective doctor visit management apps in our blog. We’ll just mention that the best telemedicine platforms are AI-based, so they make the communication much more simple and convenient: setting and managing appointments is possible in just seconds, medical surveys can be automated and interaction sophisticated.
Remote data gathering
Not only patients' intakes can be automated, but the monitoring of the individual’s state in real time can be used through micro biosensors, specialized apps, and wearables to improve diagnostics and adjust treatment accordingly at the same time providing more personalized care.
Thus, patients' health parameters can be continuously gathered, translated into efficient summaries, and delivered straight to doctors in case of abnormalities. Besides, world-class specialists can assist each other in urgent cases regardless of the geographical location of the patient and colleagues.
At-home diagnosis
Multiple types of data gathered through AI-assisted smartphone possibilities (video, voice recognition, speech analysis, etc) allow for complex medical assessments. Thus, for instance, skin cancer, afflictions of the respiratory system, neurological deviations can be detected.
Physicians can then base their diagnoses on the summaries of data obtained during detailed health parameters tracking over a certain period. Preventive and proactive care can be prescribed remotely based on such datasets.
Remote treatment
The next step after preventive care is treatment online. Nowadays telemedicine apps for doctors assist with medicine dosages prescriptions or advice of additional solutions.
Digital therapeutics - apps can be integrated with patients’ lifestyles and work on multiple levels – teaching healthy habits, treating mental illnesses through virtual reality systems, or assistance for those requiring insulin, for instance.
The next step of how to do telemedicine is to implement transdermal or body implants for remote medicine delivery.
Remote robotic surgery
Today advanced consoles for surgical procedures are in use already. They facilitate a minimally invasive approach but require human doctors to manage them. In the future, we’ll see the surgery performed with automated robotic arms remotely from any place on the Earth.
Telemedicine App for Doctors - Improved Access to Care at Reduced Costs
Telemedicine solutions allow all categories of patients to access healthcare whenever they need it, no matter where they live - in a rural or urban area.
The major benefits they may offer are the following:
- The access to healthcare becomes more affordable, thorough optimization of the healthcare resources and staff distribution,
- The possibility for primary caregivers to provide consultations without additional office staff assistance,
- No-shows amount going down, even when there is no physical opportunity to get to the doctor’s virtual visit is possible,
- The option of virtual consultation. It relieves remote patients of the necessity to travel for treatment, being especially beneficial for people without reliable transportation, or individuals too sick to travel long distances.
- The opportunity for any rural telemedicine clinic to have a consultancy with specialty providers whenever it’s required (above 60 million Americans live in HPSAs - Health Professional Shortage Areas)
- The advantage to chronically ill individuals to be monitored daily in the comfort of their homes, (in America only above 50% of the population live with chronic illnesses),
- Cut hospital stays, patient transfers, and readmissions, telemedicine can help troubleshoot common problems right away and avoid complications in many cases,
- Mitigated shortages of nurses and doctors, and much more.
Conclusion
The modern software solution development brings future nearer to us. Improving the quality of medical treatment, preventive and proactive care, digital technologies enhance the quality of human life and decrease mortality.
In case, you are interested to join in this global process and create some kind of telemedicine app for doctors and patients to meet each other, turn to Axisbits for a comprehensive analysis and consultation. We can then together find a way to bring your idea to life most efficiently!
