Why is
telemedicine necessary and how does it work?
How has the patient experience changed before and after the
COVID-19 pandemic? How have standard clinical processes been digitized? And why
does everyone benefit from telehealth?
In 1924, Radio News published a front-page illustration of a
family communicating with a doctor on television. At the same time, they not
only talked, but they also saw each other.
It was just a fantasy then, but already in 1997, the WHO
first registered the interpretation of such technology: telemedicine. It was
not released immediately, as remote consultations were an unprecedented
development. And, as is often the case with innovation, it has been met with
skepticism.
This approach was considered unreliable by patients and
clinics, so telemedicine services were scarce. But over time, this
communication format between patient and doctor became more and more used, and
the events of 2020 caused a veritable boom in telemedicine.
Dramatic changes
The pandemic has dramatically digitized patient
participation and increased teleworking. Gartner reports that in the first 8
months of 2020, virtual assistance requests increased 300% compared to 2019.
Patients are more likely to prefer online than offline
consultations. More than 70% of personal visits were canceled during the
pandemic, and 76% of patients said they were more likely to use telemedicine in
the future, according to McKinsey.
Your interactions with your doctor have changed dramatically
in the last year. Before the pandemic, medical consultations were mostly
personal, so the patient's journey looked like this:
Today, these steps have been greatly digitized and put
online: there are specific online forms and applications for scheduling a
doctor's appointment and collecting data, and medications are shipped via
contactless delivery.
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted healthcare and IT
service providers to expand their solutions and create new ones. As a result,
patients take on new roles in telemedicine services and receive medical advice
more quickly and safely.
Telemedicine is also gaining popularity in Ukraine. Online
consultations are becoming common practice not only for private clinics in
Ukraine, but also for some public clinics. Two telemedicine centers are already
operating in our country, one of them was inaugurated at the end of 2020.
In recent years, new applications for remote consultation
with a doctor have appeared on the market, as well as online appointment
booking portals. In 2020 alone, more than 400,000 Ukrainians downloaded one of
these services.
Benefits for patients
Telemedicine enables you to provide quality medical advice
faster and safer. You don't have to queue to see a doctor and then spend a lot
of time in crowded clinics. Villagers and municipalities, the elderly and
disabled people who have difficulties reaching hospital benefit in particular
from telehealth.
Telemedicine can also help in critical cases. For example,
doctors can use a CCTV system to monitor the condition of a patient who goes to
the hospital by ambulance and advise paramedics.
Additional remote monitoring can be configured in the
patient's room. And when her condition stabilizes, the patient can continue
their treatment at home and consult a doctor online. Read More beinghealthylife
Benefits for health care providers and payers
Ineffective health practices increase treatment costs.
Telemedicine, on the other hand, can help to better configure processes.
Telehealth can save up to $ 4.28 billion in health care costs per year,
according to the United States Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).
