Online Telemedicine Service is one of the fastest-growing segments in the healthcare industry.
Telemedicine enables providers to deliver quality health services to patients at remote locations. Virtual visits achieve it through videoconference or phone. It is used to exchange information for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of any disease.
The opportunities for telemedicine in the USA lies in its ability to become a true care delivery option. It also depends on the practice extension for managing patients, particularly seniors, with chronic medical illnesses and behavioral health comorbidities.
Several opportunities decide the future of online telemedicine service as an innovative alternative care delivery model that serves all USA stakeholders.
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Addressing Behavioral Health
Telemedicine is surely an effective way to deliver some aspects of behavioral health services. It is a clinical area in which telemedicine can have one of its substantial clinical and financial impacts. Unaddressed mental health issues can intensify an existing chronic health problem (known as comorbidities). In return, it is leading to high-cost emergency room visits, readmissions, hospitalizations, and of course, the workplace’s loss of productivity.
Behavioral health telemedicine consults that reduce these instances can certainly generate big system savings. The availability of online telemedicine service reduces and eliminates any perceived stigma attached to in-person visits with clinicians. However, it can also increase the consistent quality of and compliance with behavioral health treatment programs.
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Cost Effectiveness and Healthcare Savings
Remote analysis, monitoring services, and electronic data storage significantly reduce healthcare service costs. It also saves money for you, your patients, and insurance companies. Online Telemedicine service also reduces unnecessary non-urgent E.R. visits and eliminates transportation expenses for regular checkups.
Recently, a report from the American Hospital Association recounted a telemedicine program that saved 11% in costs and more than tripled Return on Investment (ROI) for investors.
However, beyond these general cost-savings, telemedicine can also boost revenue by turning on-call hours into billable time. This is followed by attracting new patients, reducing no-shows, and even reducing physicians’ overhead. These physicians are those who decide to switch to a flexible work-from-home model for part of the week.
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Providing Front-Line Care
Telemedicine can reach its highest potential when people offer it as a covered benefit in a health plan. However, health plans can educate and incent enrollees to use telemedicine or house calls for front-line care. These plans can then leverage clinicians’ knowledge or experience to help patients access additional care if required.
However, few forward-thinking employer-sponsored plans and individual plans are showing encouraging signs that this will happen. The providers should also ideally be in-network health systems and clinicians instead of virtualists unaffiliated with a local provider or health system for various reasons.
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Monitoring Discharged Patients
An effective strategy with promise is health systems leveraging the capabilities of online telemedicine service to complement their traditional health services. For example, telemedicine can check or monitor patients post-discharge to reduce hospital readmissions.
Telemedicine solutions can help physicians provide more convenient, real-time interactions with their patients. While simultaneously relieving the scheduling pressure on the physician practice. Telemedicine, along with the above opportunities, has a promising immediate future in the USA.
Therefore, one must utilize this virtual method to the best to stay safe and secure when concerned with their health.
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