Is Telemedicine Disrupting Independent Physicians

Telemedicine is increasingly adopted by health organizations to meet patient demand for convenient, accessible, and affordable services. Telemedicine is disrupting independent physicians by delivering clinical care through telecommunications and information technologies such as computers and smartphones. As you know that people will always need to see doctors with crucial needs of care. But, as generations begin to rely more and more on digital and mobile healthcare it will surely disrupt independent physicians. Telemedicine continues to grow in popularity due to the high level of independence and convenience.

Introduction:

These digital features have no geographical limitations. So, the patients in the most remote locations can still receive a high level of care. With the proper application of telemedicine, the patient no longer has to mold their schedule around the doctors. Molding creates problems or disrupts independent physicians. In the event of a non-emergency, people are more likely to seek a convenient option of an online consultation. They avoid a time-consuming hospital visit. This leads to another primary disruption for independent physicians because telemedicine helps in ease of access to the doctor themselves for the individual.

As you know that visiting hospitals for healthcare treatment for a non-emergency event, costs too high rather than consulting a doctor through a virtual meeting. It can lead to cost savings for both patients and providers. There are several financial benefits for providers, such as patient retention, time optimization, improved appointment compliance, and lower overhead costs and liability. The financial benefit for the patient is in the reduction of transportation and transfer costs. As health and fitness app gets familiarized into the world a lot, the industry observed a dramatic progression in the population’s health awareness. This increase in mindfulness stimulates a more educated population that not only enables the user to monitor their health closer but also gives first-hand data gatherings to primary physicians when connected properly.

Here, are some points through which you will see how telemedicine is disrupting independent physicians:

• Availability of doctors 24/ 7:

Telemedicine provides connects patients with nurse practitioners or board-certified physicians in areas such as Internal medicine, Pediatrics, Family medicine, or Emergency Medicine any time of the day, night, week, or weekend via virtual meetings, phone calls, or mobile app. Instead of providers telling adults and children when they can be treated for non-emergency medical conditions, patients can receive 24/7 care when they are sick, not just during visiting hours as hospitals.

• Timesaving:

Telehealthcare respects patient’s lifestyles and takes into consideration that illness does not show up during office hours. If a patient gets sick at night, on the weekend, or while away from home, they will not have to bear the high cost of an urgent facility or hospital emergency room, and they will not lose as much of their precious time.

• Geographic flexibility:

In online consultation, we often neglect geographic flexibility as we organize it through virtual meetings the distance does not matter. Sickness can also show up miles away from the treatment center. This telehealthcare treatment can cure patients while miles away from the family doctor, it is a non-emergency event as rushing to the hospital for proper diagnosis. It is helpful for mostly those people who are staying in remote areas. They cannot seek services to an urgent care clinic. This is also one of the reasons that telemedicine is adopted by most people. It leads to disruption of independent physicians as people can not seek help for their treatment miles away from the doctor.

• Pocket saving for Patients:

Compare the costs for online consultation and an emergency meeting room with a doctor in hospitals. The online consultancy will charge less the patient which helps in save money for them. Independent physicians charge more for seeing a patient. This is because it includes so many extra expenditures to the bill due to which people think that if it is not urgent let us go for an online consultation.

There are so many challenges in telehealth also such as Money, Regulations, Hype, Adoption, Technology, Evidence, Success. All independent physicians should have to take some major decisions otherwise the telemedicine or online consultancy will continue disrupting them. Remote consultation offers potential advantages to patients and the healthcare system. But people express fear that they may be clinically risky and or less acceptable to patients or staff. They bring significant technical, logistical, and regulatory challenges.

We should motivate health services by considering implementing telehealth benefits other than cost reduction. The available evidence has indicated that telehealth provides overwhelmingly positive patient benefits and increases productivity for many services. Current evidence suggests that it does not routinely reduce the cost of care delivery for the health system.