A doctor, nurse, and patient walk into a room–just kidding, they don’t because they’re using telehealth services!
Chances are, even if you haven’t used telehealth in the last five years, you’ve heard of it. This is because telehealth services played a significant role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
While telehealth services have existed for decades, they didn’t gain global popularity until the pandemic. To help ease the stress on medical providers, states loosened restrictions to allow telehealth providers to cross state lines and help more people. While states have since reinstated the restrictions, telehealth has continued to thrive.
Despite its rising popularity, not everyone is well-versed in telehealth or telemedicine. This article will act as a general overview to give you a better understanding of telehealth services and see if it’s the right healthcare move for you.
In this article, we’ll explore:
- Telehealth and its history
- How telehealth services improve medical care
- The different telehealth services
- Requirements to use Telehealth
- The challenges facing telehealth services
So grab your chargers and let’s get started!
Telehealth Overview: What is telehealth?
The terms telehealth and telemedicine, often used interchangeably, refer to the use of technology to bridge a physical distance, allowing you to see a healthcare professional for services and diagnosis, consultations, or treatment, without visiting a physical location.
Patients can make telehealth appointments through phone calls, video chats, and other interactive data communications, such as text messaging or live chats. Each state in the US has its own definition and requirements, so it’s good to look up what your state’s requirements are.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services defines telehealth as a two-way, real-time interactive communication between a patient and a physician or practitioner at a distant site through telecommunications equipment that includes, at a minimum, audio and visual equipment.
Historical Background
Even though telehealth may seem like a new and foreign concept, its roots can trace back to the 1800s and the invention of the telephone and telegraph, which enabled people to communicate over long distances.
The concept of telehealth was first mentioned in print by The Lancet in November 1879. Their report detailed how a family doctor, who was roused from sleep at midnight, determined if a baby had croup by listening to its cough through the phone, instead of leaving his home.
From that point on, medical providers were quick to integrate these tools into their healthcare practices, using them to send medical information and advice:
- The 1920s saw doctors providing medical advice to sailors through ship-to-shore radio communication.
- During the 1950s, a closed-circuit television link was utilized by Nebraska Psychiatric Institution and Norfolk State Hospital for psychiatric consultations.
- Telemedicine was employed by NASA in the 1960s to monitor astronauts’ health during space missions.
- The 1970s saw expansion in telemedicine as trials began, such as the Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Advanced Health Care, which used satellite technologies to provide telemedicine services to the Papago Indian Reservation.
- The 1980s saw radiology embracing telemedicine to transmit images for diagnosis.
- As the internet boomed in the 1990s, telehealth technology became more accessible. The accessibility of telehealth technology increased so much that in 1993, the American Telemedicine Association formed.
- The early 2000s saw telehealth becoming more mainstream, with telephone services being integrated into practices.
Despite Telehealth’s robust history, it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that the world adopted telehealth as a common form of healthcare.
How can telehealth technologies improve medical care?
America is facing a healthcare crisis on two fronts: availability and cost. Many Americans don’t keep up with their health, either because they live in a healthcare desert without adequate access to healthcare, or because they can’t afford the rising costs of treatment.
With Telehealth, there is a larger pool of medical professionals to choose from, including providers outside your zip code. It’s also reasonably priced and offers most of the same services as a brick-and-mortar office, making it a working solution for the above-mentioned issues.
While there are a variety of ways telehealth benefits healthcare, we’ll be looking at four of the major ones:
- Healthcare accessibility
- Quality of care
- Patient Engagement, and
- Cost
Increased Access: More Providers, More Care
Healthcare in America is struggling. We’re currently battling a shortage of healthcare workers, along with regulations that inhibit providers from practicing across state lines. This has resulted in many Americans living in medical deserts, which GoodRx defines as areas across the U.S. lacking adequate access to six key healthcare services:
- Pharmacies
- Primary care providers
- Hospitals
- Hospital beds
- Trauma centers
- Low-cost health centers
This issue isn’t getting any better – in fact, it’s getting worse. In 2021, GoodRx reported that healthcare deserts affected a whopping 30 million people, with 80% of counties in America being considered as such. In 2023, that number increased to 121 million people per VSP Vision’s ‘Future of Healthcare Deserts Report.’
While these numbers are bleak, telehealth is helping combat the crisis. Through remote consultations, people can now access healthcare providers outside their desert. Remote consultations also eliminate the need to travel long distances for care, with most fields of medicine providing telehealth services in some capacity.
Access isn’t just referring to distance though, it includes availability and ability as well. Many telehealth providers offer 24/7 availability, meaning you have access to their services and can connect with medical professionals at any time. This means you can get help without waiting for “office hours.” A significant benefit for chronic condition management!
Telehealth also has tools and accommodations, making healthcare accessible to those who don’t speak English, or those with disabilities. As technology advances, these accommodations will only increase, making telehealth an excellent choice for all patients.
Quality of Care
If you haven’t figured it out yet, many of the issues faced in our healthcare contribute to deficiencies elsewhere, creating a cycle that makes it hard to break free from. While telemedicine isn’t a magic bean that will lead you to a golden goose, it is a tool that can vastly increase the quality of care for patients by offering more visits and providing access to more tools and specialist providers.
With virtual visits offered at affordable rates, the average patient is more likely to have regular appointments and follow-ups when needed. This is especially important for those with ongoing conditions, as this allows you to be proactive in your care rather than reactive.
The access to tools and specialists offered by telehealth makes it easier to monitor patients’ conditions in real-time, and they can receive consultations from specialists they wouldn’t otherwise have access to–leading to more accurate diagnosis and treatment options.
Patient Engagement
Telehealth’s impact on patient engagement is one of the most valuable contributions to the healthcare system. Studies show patients do better when they’re involved in their healthcare, and that involvement positively affects the patient experience. With telehealth, the time, tools, and personalized care a patient receives often leads to better health outcomes.
The following statistics come from Gozio Health .
Time
Finding time to go to the doctor is hard. Once you snag an appointment, you have to clear your schedule, travel to the location, and then wait an average of 18 minutes to be seen–if all goes well. In the same study mentioned at the start of this blog, GoodRx concluded that the population in 20% of counties across the United States has to drive over 30 minutes to reach healthcare facilities.
So just to be seen, a person must first dedicate one hour and 18 minutes of their time to the appointment. This estimate doesn’t include their actual appointment time either. With our current shortage of medical providers, the length of appointments compared to the time spent in travel or waiting can be laughably short–leaving doctors to rush through patients and patients to feel unheard.
In 2024, an average patient spends just 13 to 16 minutes in their actual appointment, meaning some people have to spend 78 minutes before being seen for roughly 14.5 minutes, and they have to dedicate 92.5 minutes just to one appointment, which is a little over an hour and a half. Time can quickly add up if multiple appointments are necessary. With many Americans working hourly, without paid time off, taking the time off can be a hit to their career and finances.
Virtual visits grant individuals the freedom to adapt their schedules. By connecting only at their scheduled appointment time, eliminating wait from the equation, and people only need to account for the time of the actual visit itself. So an appointment that once cost you an hour and a half of your time and pay can now fit into a 15-minute break.
Since all that is needed to connect to an appointment is cell service or an internet connection, people can attend their appointment from their home, office, or even the school pickup line!
Tools and Individualized Treatment
Practices that provide telemedicine often include patient platforms or portals that contain medical records and other health content, patient education materials, follow-up instructions, and reminders for appointments.
By reducing the extra time spent on appointments, patients and providers can spend more time together. This leads to better communication and gives doctors a better understanding of their patient’s condition.
When you can log into your appointment as it starts, patients are less likely to be late, allowing doctors more time to sit down with their patients and educate them on treatment options, with the best treatment plan being decided on together. This method ensures the treatment plan caters to the patient’s needs. Since the patient had a part in developing their treatment plan, they’re statistically more likely to follow through with it, resulting in an improved patient outcome.
Cost-Effectiveness
A major contribution to America’s healthcare crisis is the cost of healthcare. A contribution to this cost is the cost of travel and time away from work. When you add in the monthly insurance payment, if you have it, the deductible to use that insurance, the cost of anything not covered, or the time spent arguing about coverage with the insurance company–it adds up to a lot!
Telehealth services have drastically reduced the overall time spent on healthcare, and the associated costs that accompany it by eliminating travel and wait times. Since telehealth services are available 24 hours a day, the need for costly trips to the emergency room has also decreased.
Another reason telemedicine is so cost-effective is because most providers choose not to accept insurance, so they price their services lower. Patients are either charged a fee-for-service or a subscription. Regardless of insurance, telehealth is cheaper than an in-person appointment.
Types of Telehealth Services
Telehealth services encompass a wide range of medical fields, with most having telehealth options available.
The most popular telehealth branches of telehealth are:
- Primary Care, what most people think of when they hear the term telemedicine, involves general health consultations, acute illnesses, etc.
- Psychiatric, referred to as telepsychiatry in telehealth, offers behavioral health services, such as therapy and counseling.
- Dermatology, referred to as teledermatology, offers remote consultations, treatment, and management for skin conditions.
- Cardiology, referred to as telecardiology, offers remote consultations and monitoring of the heart and blood.
- Endocrinology, which covers the endocrine system, offers diabetes management and managing thyroid disorders.
- Pediatrics, which involves checkups, screenings, vaccinations, and counseling and same-day acute care when needed.
Conclusions
It’s not uncommon to hear of telehealth referred to as the future of healthcare, and it’s certainly true that telehealth has revolutionized America’s healthcare system by offering greater accessibility and affordable services in convenient ways. It bridges the gap for those 121 million stuck in healthcare deserts by providing timely consultations and integrating advanced tools and specialist care into a patient’s treatment.
While there are some challenges facing telehealth, such as technological barriers and regulatory red tape, telehealth services continue to grow and expand, evolving to become more accessible and inclusive with each discovery.
Arguably, the best part about telehealth is that the tools needed to access the service come standard on phones, tablets, and computers–technology that most Americans already own. Telehealth is poised to become vital in ensuring medical care is affordable and accessible to everyone–regardless of their location or circumstance.
For top-notch telehealth services, check out Hamilton Health & Wellness or book a 15 minute consultation with our Healthcare Providers.
