The novel coronavirus one comic has stretched healthcare systems to the brain covid 19 might be getting all the headlines the patients are still getting sick from other diseases and injuries and lots left doctors looking for other ways to treat them while minimizing contact enter telemedicine, which is broadly defined as the use of electronic communications and software to monitor and treat patients instead of an inpatient visit over the past decade of telemedicine, a broader term used to define all digitally delivered medical services and health education, has seen steady growth as an industry according to ibis world the industry’s revenue has grown thirty-four point seven percent from 2014 to 2019 the market size in 2019 was around forty-five billion dollars but it’s projected to grow to more than a hundred and seventy-five billion dollars by 2026 despite the increase in revenue
With a novel coronavirus the number of Medicare patients using telehealth has increased from roughly 11,000 a week to more than 650,000 people it’s led to a surge in usage for telemedicine companies such as tel-attack and American well and video conferencing company zoom whose stock is up more than a hundred and fifty percent since the start of 2020 shares of Microsoft which owns video conferencing software Skype and its team’s platform are up more than fourteen percent since the start of 2020, telemedicine visits surged fifty percent in March and are on pace to reach two hundred million. By the end of 2022, that’s up from earlier predictions of 36 million healthcare systems have skipped the test run and jumped to using telemedicine as a primary means of care during the coronavirus pandemic here’s how coronavirus could change the future of healthcare telemedicine dates back to the mid 20th century when radios were used to provide medical advice on ships in hospitals.
The first usage was in the 1950s through a closed-circuit television link for psychiatric consultations in the last 30 years telemedicine treatment has expanded to mental health stroke and patients with chronic diseases like asthma diabetes or heart failure. Several research studies have found it to be an effective alternative and satisfying for both the patient and provider telehealth proponents have sold it as a solution for patients in rural areas. Now they advocated as a low-cost and convenient option for tech-savvy millennials and busy parents as well, the 2019 well study found that 66% of people are willing to use telehealth but only 8% had already tried it
There are many different reasons why the user was so low:
1) Insurers are very worried that people would use too much to tell if they covered it too easily and so there are many restrictions on the type of telemedicine visit that insurers will pay for. For example, Medicare, which is the federal government’s largest taxpayer that covers the elderly and disabled only pay for telemedicine if somebody is a rural resident and you also have to go to a specific kind of facility for the specific kind of equipment.
2) People are attached to seeing their doctors in person. As doctors in their business model are very much tied to seeing patients in the office so they don’t have a lot of incentive to offer telemedicine because there isn’t a whole lot of patient demand so when the government announced that they would lift telehealth restrictions from Medicare.
At present, coronavirus could boost telehealth interactions to 1 billion by the end of 2022 telemedicine companies like Teller doc and American have seen a surge in users during the coronavirus pandemic which has helped them keep up with demand in most countries temporarily modifying their license requirements for doctors meaning a doctor in one state can diagnose a patient in another. In this way, the company’s market opportunities can only increase and clearly benefit from the Covid 19 epidemic in our universe also tech companies are entering the telemedicine space. Every Big Tech Company in Silicon Valley Has Been Interested in Telemedicine for years and has been exploring ways to incorporate it into their products. Microsoft for instance has been developing chat boxes has collaboration software like teams they also have video conferencing services saying with Apple same with Google and increasingly they’re finding ways to point people to use these sorts of services While paper-based telemedicine seems like a near-perfect solution for policymakers, it’s not always the best solution for providers.
Telemedicine can save them the trip in case they don’t need additional assessment in some cases there are options for patients to visit a clinic to have an assessment from a nurse and then visit with a specialist virtually. However, there are some limitations to it as well:-
One, of the major security concerns that come with smartphones, is that they can be hacked find out whether your phone has been hacked or not by watching signs that your phone has been hacked now back to telemedicine and everything you wanted to know.
Two, physicians with limited physical examination can do little when they are not physically with the patient. They can only assess what they can see and what the patient tells them doctors may need equipment to assess a patient’s condition this doesn’t benefit those who have difficulty getting to a hospital.
Three, electronic glitches technology is only as reliable as the electrical current that keeps it running inclement weather and other annoyances can cause power outages or disrupt the internet connection complicating online consultations you should keep that in mind before scheduling online visits to number four patient data security conducting appointments online adds a security risk to patient information online data is hackable if a cybercriminal logs in to a patient’s account, they could have access to all of the user’s medical records as they would for a visit appointment doctor consider ways to protect all health information while telemedicine can help you stay.
Just like the two sides of the coin, the Propagation of telemedicine is just like talking good about e-learning modules. The end-user experience is down and would only benefit if there is a financial incentive for the customer. On the other end, telemedicine describes remote clinical services provided by ever-growing technological advancements in telecommunications it fulfills a natural demand in the digital age how to bring patients and doctors closer to each other without losing lone pairs to traveling and waiting in hospitals telemedicine is used for follow-up visits management of chronic conditions specialist consultation in remote areas medication management and a host of other clinical services that can be provided through secure video and audio connections it doesn’t just help to make health services more comfortable it also brings basic health care to rural communities and low, this development brought several questions about how telehealth should be regulated to the fore. Is remote care as effective as in-person care? Would long-term expansion of telemedicine reduce costs for patients and healthcare providers? Might a greater reliance on telehealth reduce access to care for some patients are some of the questions which still need to be answered?
Blackcoffer Insights 40: Mihir Bhatt, SGTB Khalsa College(DU)
