What is Telemedicine?
 
 
Telemedicine allows health care professionals to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients at a distance using telecommunications technology The approach has been through a striking evolution in the last decade and it is becoming an increasingly important part of the American health care infrastructure.
 

History

 
What we recognize as telemedicine today started in the 1950’s when a few hospital systems and university medical centers started to try to find ways to share information and images via telephone. In one of the first successes, two health centers in Pennsylvania were able to transmit radiologic images over the phone.
 
In the early days, telemedicine was used mostly to connect doctors working with a patient in one location to specialists somewhere else. This was of great benefit to rural or hard to reach populations where specialists aren’t readily available. Throughout the next several decades, the equipment necessary to conduct remote visits remained expensive and complex, so the use of the approach, while growing, was limited.
 
The rise of the internet age brought with it profound changes for the practice of telemedicine. The proliferation of smart devices, capable of high-quality video transmission, opened up the possibility of delivering remote health care to patients in their homes, workplaces or assisted living facilities as an alternative to in-person visits for both primary and specialty care.
 

Telemedicine vs Telehealth

Although the terms telemedicine and telehealth are often used interchangeably, there is a distinction between the two.
 
The term telehealth includes a broad range of technologies and services to provide patient care and improve the healthcare delivery system as a whole. Telehealth is different from telemedicine because it refers to a broader scope of remote healthcare services than telemedicine. While telemedicine refers specifically to remote clinical services, telehealth can refer to remote non-clinical services, such as provider training, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education, in addition to clinical services. According to the World Health Organization, telehealth includes, “Surveillance, health promotion and public health functions.”
 
Telemedicine involves the use of electronic communications and software to provide clinical services to patients without an in-person visit. Telemedicine technology is frequently used for follow-up visits, management of chronic conditions, medication management, specialist consultation and a host of other clinical services that can be provided remotely via secure video and audio connections.
 

Benefits

Using telemedicine as an alternative to in-person visits has a host of benefits for patients and providers alike.
Patients enjoy:
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Less time away from work
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No travel expenses or time
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Less interference with child or elder care responsibilities
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Privacy
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No exposure to other potentially contagious patients
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Providers enjoy:
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Increased revenue
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Improved office efficiency
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An answer to the competitive threat of retail health clinics and on-line only providers
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Better patient follow through and improved health outcomes
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Fewer missed appointments and cancellations
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Private payer reimbursement
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Applications

 
There are few limitations to how telemedicine can be applied. Here are a few examples of how it is being used today.
 
Follow-up visits
Using health software for routine follow-up visits is not only more efficient for providers and patients, but it also increases the likelihood of follow-up, reducing missed appointments and improving patient outcomes.
 
Remote chronic disease management
The increasing rate of chronic disease  is a major challenge for our health system. It is a prime candidate for the use of telemedicine software because it makes it easier and less expensive for patients to maintain control over their health.
 
Remote post-hospitalization care
One telehealth program for patients with congestive heart failure reduced 30-day hospital readmissions by 73 percent and six-month readmissions by 50 percent.
 
Preventative care support
Weight loss and smoking cessation are the keys to reducing heart disease and a host of other conditions. Telemedicine can be a valuable tool in connecting providers with patients to make sure they get the support they need to be successful.
 
School based telehealth
When children become ill at school, they might visit a school nurse or be picked up by their parents and taken to an urgent care center. Some innovative districts have teamed up with doctors to conduct remote visits from the school. The provider can assess the urgency of the case and provide instructions or reassurance to parents.
 
Assisted living center support
Telemedicine software has already proven to be useful in keeping residence of assisted living facilities out of the hospital. Problems often occur at night or on weekends, making hospitalization the only option even for less urgent problems. With telemedicine, on-call doctors can conduct a remote visit to determine if hospitalization is necessary.