Why are health plan providers upgrading to telemedicine for customers?
To find a solution to this phrase, we need to understand telemedicine. We need to understand certain useful terms. What is Telemedicine? What is Telehealth?
Telemedicine and Telehealth
Telehealth is the allocation of health-related services, advice, and information through electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It is a broader term related to telemedicine. Further, it permits long-distance patients and doctors to contact, care for, and provide medical help through the internet or telecommunication media. On the other hand,
Telemedicine is the practice of medicine through technology to provide care to patients at a distance. It provides clinical services to patients without an in-person visit. It is real-time two-way communication between the healthcare provider and the patient.
Telemedicine aims to meet the needs of today’s patients and can revolutionize the delivery of health treatment. In addition, it connects the low cost, ready accessibility, and convenience using the Internet and related technologies. Through, the customers find a solution for their health plan and inclusion to unnumbered doctor visits as well as online consultation privileges.
The convenience of online health care:
In primary care, telemedicine usually occurs in the form of phone calls. Here the patient seeks the doctor’s treatment about the non-emergency medical problems, which does not need the doctor to see the patient. Telemedicine offers convenience to the patients as well as practitioners by obviating the requirement of a physical visit to get medical treatment or advice.
The health plan providers are upgrading to telemedicine for customers/patients. Doctors or healthcare providers experience several benefits through telemedicine. It has improved patient outcomes, make practices more profitable, and give the providers flexibility. Some of the benefits are noted below:
1. Scheduling Flexibility
Telemedicine technology can be used virtually at any place and at any time. Likewise, this gives the healthcare providers the option to extend their working hours and even weekend operations without any need to staff the physical office.
2. Increased Revenue
Video meetings are more efficient than physical ones. This means that each healthcare provider can attend to more than one patient at the same period. Healthcare providers can enjoy good revenue growth without the need of the office staff, or any provider.
3. Improvement in patient outcomes.
Patients are likely to prefer appointments if those can be conducted through internet medium or video calls. Video visits are an effective way to increase the outcomes of patients. Besides, surveys depict that the patients feel satisfied with the telemedicine technology.
4. Improvement in the balance of work and life.
Telemedicine allows the providers to work from their home, or to make appointments outside of office hours. Many healthcare providers report that Telehealth helps them to balance their life and work. It has made people free from the restrictions of traditional working hours. Since the video visit can be conducted from anywhere and at any time, providers who want to visit can travel far from their homes. Further, free from the thought of the service to be provided to their patients.
5. Free from a last-minute cancelation
Last-minute cancelations result in a huge drain of profit, and time as well. Through the use of telemedicine, this problem can be mitigated by eliminating the factors that cause cancellation. Accordingly, there can be many issues or problems which lead to cancellation, includes the need to be at work, transportation problems, lack of access to childcare, and many more on the list. However, all these issues are eliminated in telemedicine technology.
6. Satisfied employees
Apart from the healthcare providers, telemedicine is also beneficial to the office staff or employees. There is a reduction in the stress for the office staff due to fewer crowds, and they are less prone to illness as well.
7. Protection from competition
Identically there are numerous options, for physicians for treatment or health advice, in front of the patient. Urgent care option is one of the most convenient ways for the patients to get care in physical visit to the clinic. Furthermore, the number of organizations providing medical care through online video visits continues to grow, which are cost-effective and painless for caretakers. Therefore, to protect against this type of competition, telemedicine is the one way to practice.
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