Telemedicine has the potential to make a vast change in the lives of many individuals. In remote areas, where a patient and the closest health care provider can be hundreds of miles apart, telemedicine can provide the means of accessing much needed healthcare that was not available before. In emergency cases, the access provided by telemedicine can mean the difference between life and death. In those cases where fast medical response …show more content…
Store-and-forward surpasses the need for the physician to meet face-to-face with a patient. Instead, it captures the patient’s medical data such as radiology images, lab results, and videos that are securely stored and transmitted electronically to another doctor remotely that performs an assessment of the patient’s condition. Both physicians do not need to be present at the same time when store-and-forward is used. Remote monitoring also referred to as self-monitoring/testing. It allows the physician to monitor a patient’s ailment remotely using a wide range of mobile medical devices. This particular type of telemedicine is chiefly used for managing chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes mellitus and asthma. Real time interaction between patient and physician by way of telephone calls, online communications, and video conferencing is called interactive services. Quite a few services such as history assessment, physical tests, psychiatric assessments and ophthalmology evaluation can be completed similar to those done with traditional face-to-face …show more content…
This also paves the way for patient to receive care sooner which helps avoid escalation of illness, thereby saving costs in the long run. Keeping patients at Critical Access Hospitals helps reduce the ever soaring cost of health care for third party payers. For businesses, the benefits of telemedicine are becoming a strong player (Christian). When utilizing telemedicine employers are discovering they can offer affordable alternatives to offset employees higher insurance deductible on health insurance. Telemedicine is helping employers reduce employee absenteeism which in turn will increase productivity because a telemedicine visit is far less time consuming than a visit to the doctors office.
Obviously telemedicine can be very rewarding to patients as well as healthcare providers. It is a wonderful new tool that is proving to be a valuable resource. Regardless of what their medical conditions are telemedicine has the potential to help millions of people all over the world. There is no arguing that the benefits of telemedicine provide endless possibilities in the healthcare