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Telehealth uses technology to deliver healthcare, education, and administration services remotely. It includes videoconferencing, remote monitoring, and store-and-forward telehealth. It benefits underserved locations, reduces healthcare costs, and allows for faster diagnosis. However, private insurance providers may not cover telehealth services, and licensing laws may prevent physicians from practicing remote healthcare for patients in other jurisdictions.
Telehealth is the use of telecommunication devices to deliver healthcare, education, and administration services remotely rather than in person. Telehealth, the use of technology to deliver clinical care, is just one of the services under the umbrella of telehealth. Other aspects of telehealth include information sharing, professional and consumer education, homeland security, and research, among others. Specialized areas include telehealth, telepsychiatry, teleradiology, teledermatology, teleophthalmology, and teleodontology.
These services can be provided in real time via videoconferencing, telephone communications or audio and video streaming over the Internet. Video conferencing allows doctors and patients to meet via a video screen, often preventing the patient from incurring additional travel costs and reducing wait times. Specialized examination tools can be used to allow doctors to monitor a patient’s heartbeat, examine parts of the body, and perform other basic tests that would normally be performed in person. Telephone communication connects a patient with a nurse or other professional who can give advice before the patient decides to visit a clinic or hospital. Video conferencing and streaming media both enable more efficient training, continuing education, research and public health campaigns.
Other forms of telehealth services do not involve direct doctor-patient interaction. Store-and-forward telehealth allows healthcare professionals to quickly, easily and securely share medical information from tests and graphs. This allows healthcare professionals to share images, such as X-rays, without physically exchanging a hard copy.
Specialized electronic storage and forwarding devices can collect a patient’s vital signs and other medical information over time and then send the information to a physician for review. Remote real-time monitoring allows professionals to view biometric data in real time. Email communication, virtual reality, and robotics are also considered telehealth services.
Telehealth has many benefits and uses for both patients and healthcare professionals. It allows greater access to health services for those in underserved locations, such as rural areas; extreme places, such as Antarctica or outer space; schools; prisons; and military installments. It reduces healthcare costs for both providers and patients and allows for faster diagnosis and therefore a faster return to health. It also provides more efficient information sharing between healthcare professionals and between providers and patients.
While these services may be more timely and cheaper than traditional face-to-face healthcare services, many private insurance providers will not cover telehealth services. Some government insurance plans reimburse certain eligible telehealth services. Additionally, some licensing laws prevent physicians from practicing remote healthcare for patients in other jurisdictions, so healthcare professionals wishing to participate in telehealth should familiarize themselves with the laws under which they intend to practice.
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