What Is Telemedicine & What Do You Need to Know about It?

In the event of a medical emergency, would you rather drive to your nearest hospital at 3 a.m. and wait uncomfortably in the ER just to be treated brusquely between other more pressing emergencies, or would you rather have help come to you in your own home? Wouldn’t the latter be nice?

Thankfully, with the growth of telemedicine, you no longer need a doctor in the family for the second scenario to become your reality.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then you’re not alone. A March 2016 survey found that only 39% of tech-savvy consumers have ever even heard of telemedicine, or the use of technology to eliminate distance barriers to healthcare access. That’s expected to change, and fast, according to a recent report by Technavio, which forecasts that the global telemedicine market will reach nearly $48.10 billion in revenue by 2019. That’s a growth rate of 14.3% over the next four years. So what is going on in this rapidly growing, yet still under-the-radar, industry?

How Telemedicine Benefits Consumers

Health has been one of the hottest topics in tech for quite some time. For years, we’ve seen apps like Calorie Counter, Map My Run, and MyFitnessPal rank as some of the most popular downloads in the app store, even as millions of other apps have crowded the market. Health is also at the forefront of the wearable tech industry, with companies like Fitbit and Under Armor promising to help consumers optimize their workout experiences with wearable health technology. Plus, since the iOS9 update, Apple has had its very own health app — aptly named Health — where users can keep track of all their health and fitness data without lifting a finger. Apple has now even launched Apple Health Kit so developers can make all of your health apps work seamlessly together for you in one place.

Telemedicine takes all these developments one step further, now allowing users to not only monitor their health and fitness on their smartphones, but to access professional medical insights on them too. The concept behind telemedicine isn’t new: 40 years ago patients and doctors started corresponding over the phone so that patients in remote areas would be able to get help fast, but now it’s time for telemedicine to catch up to today’s technology.

Today, technological innovations are taking the accessibility and quality of remote patient-physician interactions to new heights. With reliable broadband, Wi-Fi, and video collaboration technology, patients are able to access real-time virtual physical exams around the clock. A recent survey conducted by Aeris found that the vast majority of health care professionals (84% of respondents) believe that technological innovations have finally evolved far enough to produce telemedicine devices that deliver similar outcomes for patients who receive treatment instructions virtually and those treated in-person.

Telemedicine is proving beneficial to all sides of the healthcare equation. From patients to doctors to insurers, everyone is winning. Doctors can focus their energies strictly on patients who need in-person examinations while patients who don’t need to be seen in person can find out everything they need to know at any hour, anywhere. Telemedicine also slashes overhead costs for healthcare networks, hospitals, and insurers who pay for patient hospital visits.

Increased demand for remote patient monitoring, the shortage of healthcare professionals in remote and rural areas, and mobile health’s growing popularity are all driving forces behind telemedicine’s strong projected growth. With the advancement of high quality telecommuting technologies, Technavio researchers forecast that by 2019, over 3 million people will benefit from remote monitoring.

Telemedicine in Practice

Telemedicine is making the whole healthcare experience more efficient, cost-effective, and accessible for patients even in the most rural and remote communities around the world. For you, advances in telemedicine might mean annual checkups just became a lot less of a pain. But for some patients, especially elderly outpatients who need weekly or bi-weekly attention or patients who live alone in rural areas far from medical clinics, telemedicine has the potential to be a life-changing development.

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by Josh Althuser via SitePoint