Advantages Of Telehealth

According to the National Rural Health Association, there is a shortage of doctors in rural America, where only ten percent of doctors work in rural healthcare facilities, even though one fourth of the American population resides in rural areas (NRHA). The use of telemedicine can be a bridge for medical services from urban areas where there is a large number of doctors to rural areas where there aren’t a lot of doctors (McCarthy 112). Underdeveloped countries or developing countries benefit from the use of telemedicine as well, because these countries don’t have access to healthcare. Healthcare is inaccessible because of a couple of reasons being distance, lack of transportation, or the health facilities are unreachable. More often than not, the services in these facilities are lacking in providing adequate care. Most physicians in these facilities aren’t specialists and may not know the right way in going about treating a patient. With telemedicine the doctors in these facilities can utilize real-time telemedicine and have a videoconference with a specialist so they can treat the patient in the best way possible. According to the article Telemedicine in Developing Countries by Steven Edworthy he writes, “Telemedicine may in fact have a more profound impact on developing countries than on developed ones”(Edworthy

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that utility of telehealth technology (THT) has the ability to improve patients’ health and reduce costly hospital readmissions for those living with chronic diseases in the United States (US). Nationally, most of our healthcare expenditures are allocated to caring for patients with chronic conditions. Bunnell et al. (2012) suggested that it cost the US more than 2.5 trillion dollars to manage and treat chronic disorders. Because of less than optimal management of chronic diseases in the outpatient setting, these patients are frequently readmitted to the hospital.

Telehealth is a newer form of healthcare that is presenting a positive impact on patients’ health and on healthcare costs. Telehealth covers a range of technology from mobile device use to physician to physician or physician to patient consults through video to assessing a patient physically who is in a different state or country. This type of technology is becoming an acceptable form of healthcare for patients, providers and insurers. Telehealth is improving the outcomes for patients while decreasing the costs of healthcare. Physician offices as well as hospitals are diving deeper into this type of care. The ability to monitor patients remotely saves time and money for the patient but also decreases visits to the hospital. In 2012 it was reported that 308,000 patients around the world utilized remote monitoring for: hypertension, diabetes, congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and mental health conditions. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) estimated in 2009 that utilization of remote monitoring could reduce healthcare costs by $197 billion dollars by 2025. PWC also found that one out of two respondents surveyed were open to utilizing technology for healthcare. The Veteran’s Administrator’s telehealth program showed that utilization of health systems was reduced by 30% for those enrolled in the telehealth program. (Thomas-Hertz, 2013)

In 2010 a study was completed in the state of California in order to evaluate the efficacy of telemedicine to reduce barriers to healthcare in rural populations (Ritter, L., Robinette, T., & Cofano, J., 2010). The assessment was made in 33 counties throughout California and was accomplished through patient satisfaction survey. The ultimate result of the survey was that telemedicine can improve access to care for people in rural settings, along with those who live in situations that make it difficult to access care.

Growing up around technology has prepared me for the technology we use in our everyday nursing careers. When I took the Pretest for Attitudes Toward Computers in Healthcare (PATCH) Assessment Scale (Kaminski, 2013), I was not surprised by my score of a 94.5 out of 100. While I do have areas that I would like more knowledge in regarding computers/technology I have a desire to acquire this knowledge and feel comfortable with my ability to learn it. In the article “Emerging Technologies Center” by Skiba she talks about the importance of telehealth as a whole. The area that I can benefit gaining knowledge from the most would be telehealth. I have set three goals to expand my knowledge of telehealth technology.

That 's not surprising. Health networks face a panoply of problems which telemedicine promises to alleviate, if not eliminate: an inability to reach undeserved populations, rising costs, high rates of readmission, and a shortfall of physicians top the list. But telemedicine is far from a silver bullet. Disparate laws across states inconsistently address the handling of licensure and insurance, and even the fundamentals of telemedicine – for example, the breadth of its encompassment – are still the subject of debate.

Advancements of technology continue to change the landscape and infrastructure of health care delivery in the United States and around the world. The healthcare industry has embraced advancements in technology and integrated computerized systems in an effort to improve patient satisfaction, quality, and performance. Telehealth is a form of healthcare delivery that provides immediate access to health services to rural populations, patients that are not able to physically attend medical appointments, and remote locations around the world. Healthcare organizations are embracing telehealth because of its features to include virtual consultations and remote patient monitoring systems that do not require patients to leave home.

Telehealth, which is defined by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as “The use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support remote clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration” (Stowe & Harding 2010). Telehealth has the capability of collaborating those healthcare professionals to take advantage of healthcare services among several of settings as well as distances (Stowe & Harding 2010). This report would start from the effectiveness of telehealth and possible disadvantages. Some evaluation for integrating personal experience and discussion about whether telehealth is a viable alternative to face-to-face practice would also be

The use of Telehealth technology in the health care delivery has brought many benefits as to the disadvantages. One of the considerable advantages influenced by the Telehealth technology is the improvement in health service delivery sector (Tuerk & Shore, 2014). Nagel et al. (2015) observed that telehealth technology facilitates nurse-patient consultation hence narrowing the link between a nurse and patient

“ Promoting, empowering and facilitating health and wellbeing with individuals, families and communities, and the development of specialized practice through the use of information management and information and communication technology is the main role that is played by EHealth which is an aspect of health care ” (RCN ehealth strtegic plan, 2013)

What is telemedicine ? telemedicine is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another, via electronic communications, to improve a patient's clinical health status . Some benefits of telemedicine are 1) improved access ,2) cost efficiency , 3)improved quality, and 4)patient demand . patients can access telemedicine through their doctors , a hospital, or other health care provider . Some may even tell you the health care services that are already available. Telemedicine is it safe ? or not ? yes ! it is guided by technical standards and guidelines, although some people rethink who really benefits from telemedicine . The patient or the doctor ? well both patients and healthcare providers originated from larger cities or in

UC Davis examined more than 19,000 medical encounters from 1996 to 2013 to explore the benefits of Telemedicine and virtual visits. The study found that savings translate beyond simply saving money. Patients also saved time, experienced less stress and had easier access to their doctors. The UC Davis study, which looked at both inpatient and interactive video consultations, found collective savings of almost nine years of travel time spent driving five million miles and approximately $3 million. Per-patient savings averaged $156 related to travel expenses and about four hours of time of the road.

Hence, the findings through the American Medical Association (AMA) telemedicine technology has the possibility to renovate health care delivery and address numerous care coordination challenges facing the U.S. health care system, which can enable remote, mobile and site-to-site medical care. Moreover, telemedicine primarily the key innovation in support of health care delivery enhancement used in initiatives to increase access to care, care coordination and quality and properly used has the potential to decrease the rate of growth in health care spending. However, there are three broad categories of telemedicine technologies such as store-and-forward, remote monitoring, and real-time, interactive services.

The healthcare industry has witnessed significant advances in technology and information systems over the last decade. These advances have enabled hospitals and medical practices to deliver medical, surgical, and diagnostic services in alternative methods. Some of the methods to consider are telemedicine, home-based services, and mobile health units. It is important to explore non-traditional health care access to meet the needs of the elderly, disabled, and for individuals who may live in rural communities. This paper will review the benefits of each trend and identify the potential to improve costs and quality of health care.

Telehealth for personal healthcare service has been widely researched for last few decades in variety fields from a military use to a personal healthcare system. Moreover, the development of communication technology, integrated circuit (IC), and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), wearable technology provides easy accessibility and opens new application regime, such as Internet of things (IoT). In order to maximise the capability of telehealth system, researchers in various fields including computer science, medical science, and communication systems have collaborated cite{chakraborty2013review}. Although it seems like a simple combination of these modern technologies, but it is required for deep understanding of hardware, software, signal processing, and networking technology for the effective design in the actual building process.