Cost savings and convenient care how Telemedicine​ is saving health care in Tampa.

As technology has developed, so has people’s ability to overcome the traditional communication barriers of time and distance. The practice of telemedicine is a step forward in the health care industry to use telecommunications to bridge the gap of time, distance, and affordability to reach patients in need of medical attention.

What is Telemedicine?

Telemedicine uses technology to facilitate communication, whether real-time or delayed, between a doctor and patient who are not in the same physical location for the purpose of evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment. Advances in telecommunications allow the exchange of medical information from one site to another to serve patients in a clinical setting.

Telemedicine is commonly categorized into the three areas of interactive care, store-and-forward care, and remote monitoring.

Interactive care

Interactive care occurs when telecommunications are used to facilitate real-time interaction between a doctor and patient. Live video, patient data transfer and audio are a few of the elements used to open simultaneous communication between a doctor and patient.

The doctor can perform a history review, physical examination and other evaluations and assessments in a manner similar to that of a face-to-face clinical visit.

Store-and-forward care

With store-and-forward, or asynchronous, telemedicine, one doctor will store pictures, video, radiology images and other information and then electronically supply all of this patient data to another doctor, usually a specialist.

The specialist can then remotely diagnose and recommend treatment for a patient.

Remote monitoring

A third type of telemedicine is remote monitoring or home health telemedicine. In this scenario, patients who are under general observation can be supervised from their own homes, or patients who suffer from a chronic condition can have a doctor manage their care from a distance.

Equipment for this care might provide video conferencing, vital signs capture and patient statistics that can be transmitted to the hospital, as well as a system to set off alarms if something goes wrong with the patient.

Telemedicine offers numerous benefits for both doctors and patients.

Following are a few of the advantages of using telemedicine.

Remote access

Communicating remotely with a doctor is a primary function of telemedicine. With this technology, doctors can reach patients in remote, rural and underserved areas where there might not be an available doctor or hospital.

Through telemedicine, patients can access doctors for routine visits, emergency care or diagnostics from a specialist.

Specialist availability

Another benefit of telemedicine is increased access to specialists. Even when patients live in urban areas with numerous doctors and hospitals, specialists for rare health conditions may not practice in the area.

Telemedicine enables patients in both rural and urban areas to connect with specialists who may be hundreds of miles away.

Cost savings

Reduction in cost is another major benefit of telemedicine, and it applies in several ways. Patients save money for routine and specialist care because they don’t have to pay travel expenses for distant doctors and don’t have to take excessive time off work to travel and then sit in a waiting room.

Doctors are also more efficient in the number of patients they can see in a day, which can help reduce overhead and related costs. In addition, remote monitoring can help lessen the much larger cost of long hospitalizations or in-home nursing, and may reduce the cost of managing chronic conditions.

Remote monitoring can also help prevent hospital readmission by properly supervising care following a patient’s discharge from the hospital.

Convenient care

For some patients, the comfort and convenience of consulting with a doctor from the safety of their own homes is a tremendous advantage.

The convenience can also improve care. For example, whereas patients

might forget to bring medications with them to a traditional office visit, when patients are at home they have ready access to the information necessary for the doctor to diagnose and prescribe.

Also, because the patient is at home, it is often easier to take notes or even include a family member who can help retain important information from the doctor.

One area where Telemedicine and Telehealth are becoming more popular and prominent is in employer group health care plans.

More and more companies in Tampa and around the country are adding this medical benefit and offering it to their employees.

The ability to access a certified doctor from your phone anywhere, anytime to treat non-emergency medical issues has showed a tremendous amount of savings for companies initiating this type of plan.

Increasing productivity, reducing absenteeism by giving employees access to an alternative to ER and emergency care visits is a valuable asset a lot of companies are starting to realize.

Below are other reference articles recently published by Accurate Insurance Solutions, Tampa's employee benefits consultants on Telehealth and Telemedicine.

5 advantages of Telehealth. Employers think outside the box for employees

Why isn't your company adding Telehealth as a medical benefit?

Tampa group health insurance "Telehealth" is health care right now

If you have questions regarding Telehealth or Telemedicine please set up a quick consultation today.

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