Every healthcare organisation should know about three different types of telemedicine.
Telemedicine has had a major impact on the healthcare industry since its inception in the late 1950s. According to the most recent data, the global Telemedicine Market was estimated at 31.46 billion dollars in 2018 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 19.28 percent over the next five years.
Healthcare organisations around the world, on the other hand, seem to be having difficulty deciding between the different types of telemedicine options or channels available today.
To help you select the right telemedicine platform for your healthcare organisation, we've identified the various types of telemedicine systems in this guide and presented factors that will help you choose the best one.
Telemedicine's Three Forms
Real-time digital medicine, store-and-forward, and remote control are the three primary forms of telemedicine. - of these categories has a place in holistic health care, and when used correctly, they can provide tangible benefits to both healthcare providers and patients.
1. Instantaneous Medicine that is interactive
Patients that need urgent medical attention will benefit from interactive programmes that include spontaneous advice. For this reason, a variety of mediums are used, including phone calls, online calls, and home visits.
A briefing about the patient's current symptoms and medical history may be performed, accompanied by an examination of their condition similar to those usually conducted during face-to-face medical appointments.
This form of telemedicine, teleneuropsychology, is an excellent example. Individuals who have, or are suspected of having, a cognitive disability may receive counselling and evaluation over the phone. Video technology is used to evaluate the patient using standard assessment techniques.
According to a 2017 report, this approach is a secure and practical alternative to conventional face-to-face consultations.
2. Store-and-forward
This telemedicine, also known as 'asynchronous telemedicine,' is a system in which healthcare professionals exchange patient medical information such as imaging studies, lab results, images, and other documents with a radiologist, physician, or any other applicable professional who may be in another area.
It's similar to sending an email, except it's done through a network with advanced and built-in security features to protect the patient's privacy.
Store-and-forward telemedicine is a methodical way for primary care professionals, patients, and experts to collect and review data collected during an inspection at a time that is convenient for them.
This method provides patients with full access to a care team made up of professionals in various places, including across time zones and long distances.
Diagnoses and treatments involving such specialties, such as ophthalmology, dermatology, and radiology, are particularly well-suited to store-and-forward.
3. Monitoring from afar
Remote patient monitoring, also known as telemonitoring, is a technique that allows healthcare professionals to keep track of a patient's vital signs and behaviours from afar.
This form of telemedicine is often used to manage high-risk patients, such as those who have recently been discharged from the hospital or those who have cardiac problems or other chronic diseases.
Diabetics, for example, may use remote monitoring to keep track of their glucose levels and send the information to their doctor. This procedure can be used to track elderly patients in assisted living facilities or at home at a low cost and convenience.
Selecting the Most Appropriate Telemedicine Platform for Your Medical Practice
So, you've decided to incorporate telemedicine into your medical practise. But how do you know which telemedicine platform would benefit your practise the most? Or how long would it take to introduce telemedicine?
Every healthcare provider has their own set of criteria. However, there are a few common factors to consider that can assist each person in selecting the best forum for their healthcare practise. They are as follows:
1. Patient Experience
With telemedicine's rapid rise in popularity, providers should look at what factors influence the patient experience first. Providers, for example, should be aware of how patients can communicate with telemedicine technology. Is a laptop or a handheld computer going to be the primary mode of communication?
You must also determine whether you want to use the telemedicine platform for pre-operative or post-operative treatment.
Finally, clinicians must assimilate patient input in order to reconstruct any operational shortcomings or improvements in current contact patterns and frequency.
2. Requirements in terms of technology
Telemedicine systems are not always produced equal. As a result, the time it takes to introduce telemedicine varies greatly from one to the next. Some platforms, for example, may necessitate the installation of specific hardware or software, while others may not necessitate any complicated integration.
Having a custom telemedicine app designed for your practise that integrates seamlessly with your current workflow will cut down on implementation time and increase your telemedicine ROI.
You should also consider how easy the platform is to use. Remember that your patients will use this tool as well, so you'll need to include a user-friendly platform.
3. Now is the time to Implement:
Telemedicine combined with other technology, such as electronic medical software (EMR) systems, will help you achieve the productivity you need in the time you need it, as well as improve data understanding. Integration of any telemedicine platform into your EMR scheme, on the other hand, will take some time.
It can take a few weeks or even months for some telemedicine vendors to react. If your practise uses multiple EMRs, the timeline can take even longer to complete. As a result, many healthcare organisations opt for a telemedicine provider that does not need EMR integration.
For the majority of healthcare providers today, video chat technology has become a popular EMR integration workaround. You can quickly make a video call and record the EMR later with this telemedicine tool.
CuraHealth, a telemedicine software development firm, will assist you in the development of your telemedicine platform, as it has for many other healthcare organisations. Please contact us for a no-obligation quote.
4. Return on investment in telemedicine
The return on investment in telemedicine can be complicated. To begin, you must first understand the total cost of any software or hardware, as well as the total cost per licence. Other questions to consider include: Will I need to hire new workers or add more network servers?
The majority of healthcare providers are only concerned with how much per visit they can charge.
Although knowing how many visits you'll need per month or year to break even is essential, you should also consider operational planning. For instance, consider post- or pre-operative care: How many more procedures will you be able to perform if you could free up even 20-30% of your surgeon's time by video telemedicine?
5. Telemedicine Reporting
Finally, you'll need a telemedicine platform that can monitor data analytics and video telemedicine call efficiency. However, you primarily want to compute input from the patient's end.
As a physician, you must first ensure that the telemedicine platform you choose can free up your time as anticipated. Next, on the patient side, doctor referrals have exploded in popularity. As a result, you'd be eager to learn about your patient's experience right away.
All in all, you'll need a telemedicine platform that's easy to use and allows patients to provide input after their care is over.
