Name: Linette Williamson MD
Address: 4403 Manchester Ave., Suite 107, Encinitas, CA, 92024
Telephone: 760-875-2627

What is Telemedicine?

Telemedicine enables health care professionals to assess, diagnose and treat individuals at a distance using telecommunications technology. The approach has been through a striking evolution in the last ten years and it is becoming an increasingly important part of the American healthcare infrastructure. Telemedicine can be defined as the use of technology (computers, video, phone, messaging) by a medical professional to diagnose and treat patients in a remote location.

History

What we recognize as telemedicine today began in the 1950's when a few hospital systems and university medical centers started to look for ways to share information and images via telephone. In one of the initial successes, two health centers in Pennsylvania were able to transmit radiologic images over the phone.

In the early days, telemedicine was used mainly to connect doctors working with a patient in one location to specialists somewhere else. This was of great benefit to rural or hard to reach populations where specialists aren't readily available. Throughout the next several decades, the devices necessary to conduct remote visits remained expensive and complex, so the use of the approach, while growing, was limited.

The rise of the internet age brought with it profound changes for the practice of telemedicine. The expansion of smart devices, with the ability of high-quality video transmission, created the possibility of delivering remote healthcare to patients in their homes, workplaces or assisted living facilities as an alternative to in-person visits for both primary and specialty care.

Telemedicine vs Telehealth

Although the terms telemedicine and telehealth are frequently used interchangeably, there is a distinction between the two.

The term telehealth consists of a wide range of technologies and services to offer patient care and enhance the healthcare delivery system as a whole. Telehealth is different from telemedicine because it refers to a broader scope of remote healthcare services than telemedicine. While telemedicine refers specifically to remote clinical services, telehealth can refer to remote non-clinical services, such as provider training, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education, in addition to clinical services. According to the World Health Organization, telehealth includes, "Surveillance, health promotion and public health functions."

Telemedicine involves using electronic communications and software to offer clinical services to individuals without an in-person visit. Telemedicine technology is often used for follow-up visits, management of chronic conditions, medication management, specialist consultation and a number of other clinical services that can be provided remotely with secure video and audio connections.

Telemedicine Advantages

Using telemedicine as an alternative to in-person visits has a host of advantages for individuals and providers alike.

Patients enjoy:

Less time away from work
No traveling costs or time
Less interference with child or elder care responsibilities
Privacy
No exposure to other potentially infectious individuals

Providers enjoy:

Increased revenue
Better office efficiency
An answer to the competitive threat of retail health clinics and on-line only providers
Improved patient follow through and better health outcomes
Fewer missed appointments and cancellations
Private payer reimbursement

Applications

There are few restrictions to how telemedicine can be applied. Here are a few examples of how it is being utilized today.

Follow-up visits

Using health software for routine follow-up visits is not only more efficient for providers and patients, but it also increases the chance of follow-up, reducing missed appointments and improving patient outcomes.

Remote chronic illness management

The growing rate of chronic illness is a significant challenge for our health system. It is a prime candidate for using telemedicine software because it makes it easier and less expensive for patients to maintain control over their health.

Remote post-hospitalization care

One telehealth program for individuals with congestive heart failure reduced 30-day hospital readmissions by 73 percent and six-month readmissions by 50 percent.

Preventative care assistance

Weight loss and smoking cessation are the keys to reducing heart disease and a host of other conditions. Telemedicine can be a valuable device in connecting providers with patients to be sure they get the help they need to be successful.

School based telehealth

When children become sick at school, they might see a school nurse or be picked up by their parents and taken to an urgent care center. Some innovative districts have teamed up with doctors to perform remote visits from the school. The provider can evaluate the urgency of the situation and provide directions or reassurance to parents.

Assisted living center support

Telemedicine software has already proven to be useful in keeping residents of assisted living facilities out of the hospital. Issues frequently take place at night or on weekends, making hospitalization the only alternative even for less urgent problems. With telemedicine, on-call physicians can perform a remote visit to determine if hospitalization is necessary.