Saturday, February 2, 2019

Telehealth, Specialists And Primary Care Providers

By Karen Hill


In most cases, when people talk about health and well being, it is in relation to clinic visits, hospitalization or the cost of insurance. While this is the case, there is a new service taking the health care world by storm, that of Telehealth. In the case of this service, individuals, primary care providers, specialists and administrators can access health services and medical records via remote access through a number of telecommunication and digital technologies.

With this new service, individuals can stay in contact with medical providers while also acquiring advice, education, intervention, being monitored and can be admitted to hospitals and rehabilitation from the comfort of home. In addition, providers can attend distance learning courses, supervise care, give presentations and attend meetings from anywhere in the world. Whereas, as the service also hosts online information and management systems, records can also be accessed from remote locations.

Other ways in which this service can be beneficial is in performing remote robotic surgeries, providing physical therapy via digital monitoring instruments and discussing cases via videoconferencing. Providers can also use this service as a means of on the spot consultations with higher level specialists by sharing MRIs, CT scans and X-rays.

Medical advances are now being made in preparation for the growth and aging of the population. For, as this happens, the demands on health care providers, hospitals and rehabilitation facilities also increase. In many cases, health care professionals are being asked to do more and more without any additional funding. Whereas, others are often encouraged to change billing and funding methods based on patient outcome, rather than charging fees for individual services.

While a shortage already exists when it comes to primary care providers in the United States, there are also shortages in a number of specialties. One of the most hard hit when it comes to a shortage of providers is that of speech pathologists and therapists. Whereas, in rural areas, clinics are having a hard time staffing administrators, physicians, physician assistants and nurses due to a lack of mobility in the elderly and limited transportation options for employees and individuals in need of care.

While telemedicine may be similar in scope, there are differences between the two. For the most part, the difference lies in telemedicine only providing for remote access to clinical care while the other provides curative, preventive and promotional care to individuals and administrative assistance to clinics and hospitals. In most cases, these include non-medical applications such as educating providers and completing administrative tasks which often makes the service more preferable than telemedicine in the long run.

The history and development of both is deeply rooted in the development of society and the ongoing growth of technology. For, individuals have long been involved in the desire to relay important information from remote locations. In some cases, methods of doing so have included using torches, electroscopes, telegraphy, optical telegraphy, telegraphs, telegrams, telephones and mail.

Now in the 21st century, most people use beepers and other digital devices such as blackberries, notepads, laptops and desktop computers for communicating via email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking websites. Whereas, there are also those whom still carry on conversations over land lines as well as smart phones which have already outdated car and satellite phones of the 80s and 90s.




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