The Impact of Telemedicine on The Healthcare Sector

Impact of Telemedicine on The Healthcare Sector

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Telemedicine is an effective way that supports to alleviate the congestion of hospitals and improves the utilisation of medical responses. Over the decade, the healthcare industry has grown immensely due to the convenience and ease offered by the modern and advanced technologies. However, there persists an issue related to availability and opportuneness of services for the medical providers and patients. The advancement of SaasS-based solution has enabled the healthcare organisations to reduce time in travelling and increase the efficiency level. Thus, it had resulted in various video products, which support collaboration and conferencing needs (Doolittle & Spaulding, 2017). The features and functionality in a care episode are similar and is widely used. Despite the change made in the Client Management System (CMS) in accepting and reimbursing of telemedicine incidents, however, reimbursement is limited in nature. In some of the organisations, it can be seen that telemedicine reimbursements are not following a sustainable model. The challenges of telemedicine prevent the technology to be accessible to patients and healthcare professionals.  The purpose of this section is to critically evaluate the previous and existing studies conducted by other authors in order to gain an in-depth knowledge of the topic and form a foundation for conducting the study on a further basis.  

According to Wade et al., (2017), telemedicine is the usage of telecommunication expertise, for example, phones and computers in order to offer clinical services to patients that are situated far away using long distance. With the help of mails, applications, phone calls and video chats, the healthcare staffs are able to diagnosis and treat patients without in-patient visit or travelling. In addition to linking patients with medical providers, it also offers a method for healthcare specialists to refer with other specialists and physicians in a critical case of a patient without the need of leaving the medical settings. As per the opinion of Lilly et al., (2017), telemedicine has been used for more than a decade in some way or another; however, with the advancement in the technological field, the telemedicine has begun to change in the area of healthcare delivery system. As argued by Boxer and Ellimoottil (2019), telemedicine has supported the providers to effectively involve with the patients; thus, offering quick and convenient solutions for better healthcare experience. As per the American Telemedicine Association, there are more than 15 million people had remotely acknowledged medical care in the year 2015 (Dorsey & Topol, 2016). The patients can show their vital stats include blood pressure and heart rate in a quick manner with the use of new technologies to the doctor, and the doctor will able to deliver care for chronic conditions. In addition to this, telemedicine help in connecting with patients, utilising to connect with doctors in giving experts and consultations. Due to high internet speed and updated technology, telemedicine help in reaching around the globe in remote areas.  As commented by Nadar et al., (2019), telemedicine has been able to give practice in a new way. For example, a Virtual Care Centre is available in Mercy Health Systems where specialists supervise the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) all the time. The healthcare system has been reported to involve a decrease of 35% in the length of stay and approximately 30% less deaths as compared to others. As stated by Law et al., (2019), the fast-growing field of the healthcare sector hold various promising aspects in solving the challenges faced by both healthcare professionals and patients. It offers appropriate and easy-to-access care, which, is considered to be the original goal of telemedicine. With this technology, even small hospitals located in the countryside areas are able to be specialised and the support of intensive care from specialists located in other areas. A US Federal law, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) that sets the standards for privacy and protection of patients’ personal details (Colorafi & Bailey, 2016).

Workflow solutions for telemedicine

For this reason, the use of HIPAA-compliant, secure and encrypted telemedicine software can be used for transmission of sensitive data to patients or other healthcare providers. It helps the stakeholders to reduce the cost of healthcare and save money. As per the study of Serwe et al., (2017), non-urgent and unnecessary ER visit or check-ups for diagnosing purpose of simple disorders such as rashes, cold and cough, common flu which can be eliminated using telemedicine thus, reducing the transportation expenses and cost of an in-person visit. As per the report of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), there are 30 specialists for every 100,000 patients in the rural regions, and thus, the patients residing on those areas had to travel long distances for accessing the specialists (Iglehart, 2018). With the usage of telemedicine, access to experts improves and widens the population of the patient for a specialist. Telehealth is an emerging field in healthcare that is considered as a critical component in resolving the crisis solution. It holds significance as it affects the issues of the modern healthcare system. Giani and Laffel (2016) opined that the challenging matters include access to care cost-effective delivery, and distribution of providers is limited in nature. Therefore, telehealth can change the paradigm of care and allow in improving access and health outcomes. As stated by Frontino et al., (2016), telehealth increases the accessibility of healthcare by offering clinical services, emergency and intensive care to remote patients. It improves the health outcome by diagnosis and treating the patient at an early basis; thus, reducing the need for costly treatment, it supports ICU care by reducing complications, mortality rate and hospital stay. In addition to this, it assists in addressing misdistribution and shortage of healthcare professionals, supporting patients and families, supporting clinical education programs, improves organisational productivity and environment as well. According to Paul (2017), telemedicine involves direct-to-consumer interaction that encompasses a number of products and services available to date. This is an area where the investment in health technology has been occurring, and the market is commercially viable in nature. However, the healthcare system has struggled to convert the technology into a profitable operation. There was a slow adoption rate toward the model and attracting new consumers toward the specialised use of medical services led to high cost.

As opined by Chirra et al., (2019), the workflow solutions related to telemedicine have now being built in the majority of the telehealth apps, and the next generation of products have begun to appear that incorporates artificial intelligence. Doarn, Latifi and Hostiuc (2016) opined that these apps help in guiding the patients by asking a series of questions and answer for the collection of relevant data. This can be done using a bot or manually that help in interpreting the response obtained. When the patient actually connects with the provider, most of the legal work is completed. This allows in more efficient and focused clinical interaction. However, since these are emerging solutions, thus, safety needs to be maintained in term of exploring the features and the interface with the EMR. Hooshmand and Yao (2017) stated that the virtual health system is moving in a particular direction where the physician believes that self-service is a hybrid model and thus, involves human interaction to a minimum extent. In another study by Mehta et al., (2016), one of the areas of growth in telemedicine collaboration of providers. This is found to be useful as it enhances the flow of communication between the physicians and other healthcare professionals, especially the nursing staffs. The physicians use this technology in order to strive for expert knowledge that they lack and help in obtaining the guidance of the next move. One of the most well-known examples, in this case, is tele-stroke in the emergency room. Some systems utilise a similar approach for connecting the specialists with the primary care experts specifically for transplantation and oncology departments. The medical collaboration is more than just video; it includes phone calls, text message and email. Thus, many organisations operate in this particular space; however, the challenges involve significant value that is beyond the capabilities of texting. One of the innovations that are the requirement in this area is appealing to the hospital's system and help in measuring the performance of the provider. The fourth factor that is most important in case of telemedicine is space. As opined by Doarn, Latifi and Hostiuc (2016), it involves a shift in the thought process about the idea of future that can be treated using telemedicine at the hospital, at home, in nursing homes and other places. The spaces need to be designed as well as configured in such a manner that it includes securing cabling, use of necessary equipment such as high-definition cameras, monitors and speakers, which is used in eICU in modern times. In the future, it is building space with the concept of the patient requiring care by the professionals within that space rather than the option of travelling to distant places for the care (Raymond, Chong & Hyland, 2016). The equipment in nursing homes and hospitals need to be enabled in such a way that the practitioners can offer bedside care in a more expediently manner for both patients and provider. In that case, patients do not require to be transported, and the doctor can see a number of patients without any disruption.

Collaboration of healthcare providers

Furthermore, the primary care provider, friend, the family were located elsewhere that could link with the video consultations; therefore, improving the communication between the concerned the parties in the patient’s care. The building of the technology within the premise of the hospital or physician’s office require current fashion. As opined by Anderson et al., (2017), the idea of extending the service in the home environment. The people can receive healthcare services according to the convenience in their place, thus, improving access to those living the remotes areas. It also helps in reducing the need for requirement of transportation, therefore, resolving the mobility issue and limited the chance of acquiring contagious infection through the transmission of pathogens. According to Elliott et al., (2017), telemedicine can change the structure, outcomes and procedures within the healthcare structure on a worldwide basis. In today’s time, the telemedicine field is extensively dominated with the efforts in research and development. However, the introduction of new concept and technology are implemented on a regular basis in the clinical practice. Various stakeholders such as patient, healthcare providers, third party and the policymakers need to be informed about the new and emerging inventions that have an impact on the healthcare delivery system.

In addition to various advantages of telemedicine, a number of challenges are being observed. As stated by Correia et al., (2017), when a primary care provider is unable to examine the patient on a first-hand basis, there is a possibility that of missing on certain vital information that leads to inaccurate diagnosis. In some other conditions, it is not possible to diagnose a person or direct treatment without an in-person visit. Not all telemedicine services are covered under private insurance companies or federal programs. In such cases, the cost of the treatment increases and there is no chance of reimbursement. As per the opinion of Brova et al., (2018), the clinicians offering telemedicine need to obey the confidentiality and privacy standards set by the HIPAA. It is often found that online communication is susceptible to hacking activity, and thus, privacy breach may occur, which involve compromising on the private information of patients.

Conclusion

From the literature review section, it can be concluded that telemedicine is one of the emerging fields in the healthcare sector that had revolutionised the way of treating patients all over the world. It offered an advanced method of diagnosis and treating people from distant areas; thus, mitigating the issue of shortage of primary care providers as well as geographic location. Various reasons had led to the growth of the technological advances of telemedicine that was found beneficial to the entire healthcare system. The existing studies that had been reviewed in this section gave a summarised idea of the effect of telemedicine on the healthcare sector as well as the developmental phases of the technology. However, it did not focus on the benefits attained by specific departments, for example, health administration in the healthcare settings. The studies evaluated helped in shedding light to the benefits and challenges of telemedicine on technical functions. It did not highlight the reasons for the issues related to its poor acceptance or discontinuation of the system in its infancy stage in the administrative department of the hospital. Therefore, based on these gaps, further research will be conducted that will help in bridging the gaps found in the literature review. The compelling statement states that there are numerous benefits associated with telemedicine in the healthcare sector, specifically in term of healthcare administration that needs further research.

References

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