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Tag Archives: coronavirus

04
Feb
Date February 4, 2022
Categories Telemedicine

Benefits of Telehealth Technology In Improving Surgical Care Services

Getting access to various surgical care services is a right for every individual. However, because many people live in remote areas, Pandemic and financial constraint access to surgical care services are challenging. Nevertheless, telemedicine technology through telehealth has become a helping tool to reduce various barriers of pre-and post-surgical care. This article will discuss how telehealth can be a helping tool in getting virtual surgical care assistance from your healthcare provider.

Improved access and quality of healthcare services

Telehealth technology allows surgical patients to get unlimited healthcare services remotely from their health practitioners. The patient must have certain levels of telehealth technology literacy to have a fruitful appointment with their doctors at the comfort of their home. There is no need to physically attend a hospital through telehealth technology, which might be tiresome, thus reducing travel time and cost. Patients access surgical care services even during Pandemics.

Reduced costs

In most cases, the money used on fuels or bus fare, as well as much time spent while attending to your hospital appointments, might be expensive. Surgical care services have become more accessible and less costly through telehealth appointments. You only need access to the telehealth appointments, network, digital, and health literacy to access your surgical care services.

Fewer missed appointments

Due to remote accessibility, rural settlement, or low-income level, most surgical patients end up missing the in-person doctor’s appointments. However, telehealth technology has resulted in an increased rate of surgical patients getting their surgical care services all time and without missing their appointments.

Patients and clinicians become more flexible.

Generally, in-person patient visit appointments are made within specific office hours. In addition, the positions require a schedule to be performed, thus, limiting patients’ time to receive thorough care during their doctor’s appointments. Therefore, telehealth technology has made it easier for patients to receive their surgical care conveniently. It has also helped doctors to plan their scheduled appointments with their patients at their convenient time limit without causing inconvenience to their surgical patients.

Final Word

Like in other health fields, Telehealth technology has enhanced surgical care services and improved patients’ outcomes. Challenges of pandemics, financial constraints, race, settlement in remote areas, telehealth technology illiteracy, and network accessibility hinder telehealth surgical care services. However, the article has discussed the benefit you can reap from Telehealth surgical services.

Author securemedical
31
Jan
Date January 31, 2022
Categories Telemedicine

Benefits Of Virtual Stroke Care In Improving Stroke Care Services 

It’s the right for everyone to access better health care services. However, living in remote areas, pandemic restrictions, and low income may make accessing some health care services difficult. Accessing large urban medical centers with experts and advanced equipment may sometimes be challenging. Nevertheless, local health care centers help deal with acute and emergency health issues. As discussed below, Virtual Stroke Care is a helping tool in improving stroke prevention, recovery, and after stroke rehabilitation regardless of patients’ location.

Since stroke patients can lose over 1.9 brain cells per minute, timely treatment is crucial. To save the patient, through Telestroke, Doctors in distant sites work with doctors at the originating site or at the ambulances to recommend diagnosis and treatment. Clot-dissolving therapies delivered through Telestroke can help reduce stroke-related disability or death.

Help experts Serve patients in different locations.

After hospitalization, patients can continue receiving services from the stroke experts through Telestroke. Doctors at distant sites work with other doctors or staff in a remote locations to provide care to patients at their homes and remote hospitals. In addition, doctors at their homes can communicate with their patients with digital cameras, internet telecommunications, smartphones, or tablets.

Telestroke Ensure continuous health care services even during pandemics.

Patients experiencing some stroke symptoms are required to visit a doctor urgently. Additionally, patients who develop physical and cognitive problems need to see their doctors for rehabilitation. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily distracted this. Virtual Stroke Care has enabled continuous stroke care services without breaking the COVID-19 rules.

Telestroke Makes it easy for home-based rehabilitation therapy.

Many stroke patients may develop physical and cognitive problems and need stroke rehabilitation. However, physical and mental difficulties created during stroke, patients living in remote areas, Covid-19 restrictions, and travel costs may hinder physical meetings with specialists. Video Conferencing has provided an opportunity for patients to connect with their specialists easily.

Final Word

Like other fields, video-conferencing enhances healthcare and allows better outcomes for patients regardless of their locations. It enables the Stroke experts to save the patient from stroke-related disability or death from their homes, remote hospitals, and the primary stroke Center efficiently and quickly.

Author securemedical
24
Jan
Date January 24, 2022
Categories Telemedicine

Utilizing Telemedicine Post-Natural Disasters.

With the increase in destructive unnatural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and forest fires, communities need to be more prepared for the aftermath with affordable healthcare. Telehealth is a real-time solution that facilitates the provision of healthcare using internet and intranet technologies.

Despite being an inexact science, telehealth still has components that offer robust solutions. The government plans to expand broadband, healthcare, and telehealth, making it the opportune time to develop telehealth and broadband-driven disaster recovery strategies.

Typically, natural disasters have three phases:

  • Unpredictable initial impact
  • Immediate aftershocks
  • Recovery

Telehealth can impact these natural disaster phases in the following ways:

Creating emergency health centers

Often, natural disasters can cause a power outage for a week or more. Advisably, before a disaster, various buildings need to be designated as telehealth and generator zones. The required equipment and telehealth kiosks would be ready for any recovery phase. These would be useful for people without access to power, the internet, or destroyed homes.

Expanding first responder’s reach

In the face of a disaster, first responders tend to receive a considerable share of immediate medical responses. They are equipped to reach out to clinics and hospitals to manage injuries. Paramedic vehicles need to be wirelessly enabled to facilitate patient treatment while heading to the hospital. The cars also need to be fitted with telemedicine tools to expand medical capabilities and healthcare to underserved and unreachable populations.

A broadband foundation

Natural disasters can destroy homes and buildings, making telehealth challenging to access. A community’s broadband network significantly impacts the technology’s ability to get through a disaster and quickly get back online. The broadband network needs to be designed to have less downtime even during a disaster. Telehealth stakeholders need to work with communities and cities to set up broadband that facilitates telehealth and disaster response.

In a nutshell, when properly implemented, telehealth can revolutionize how we prepare for and recover from disasters. It will help reduce mortality rates and improve access to general healthcare.

Author securemedical
07
Jan
Date January 7, 2022
Categories Telemedicine

The Use of Telemedicine Becomes More Prevalent Among the Middle Class.

In 2021, Rock Health conducted an annual consumer adoption survey to track the prevalent modalities and telehealth user satisfaction. Accordingly, the survey depicted that urban dwellers, high-income earners, and people between 18 to 40 years were more likely to use telemedicine than the rest of the population.

Although telehealth should be accessible equally across the board, its adoption has remained skewed to recent findings. While the COVID-19 reshaped telehealth preference, the following population cohort were the most prolific users:

  • The young population comprising individuals from ages 18 to 44
  • People with a minimum income of $ 150,000
  • Adults with a history of chronic conditions

The 2021 Digital Health Consumer Adoption Survey that involved at least 8,000 U.S. adults showed that the least consumers of telehealth and people with no experience in telehealth include the following:

  • Adult above the age of 55
  • People with an average annual income of $ 35,000 and below
  • People living in the U.S. rural areas
  • Uninsured people
  • U.S. citizen taking no prescriptions

Although most primary healthcare providers in rural areas have introduced telehealth in 2020 and 2021, statistics show that 40% of rural respondents did use telehealth at all. Besides, 28% of the consumer of telehealth used the service for the first time. As a result, location remains pivotal in skewing telehealth access in the U.S. For example, 9% of rural respondents in the 2021 survey indicated that broadband and cellular connectivity remained the top barrier to telemedicine access.

Rock health survey also depicted that fewer men were likely to use telehealth compared to their female counterparts, a finding that contradicts the 2020 survey results. Besides, Non-white respondents such as Latinos, American Indians, Blacks, and Pacific Islanders used telehealth more than white respondents. This finding aligns with the 2020 Pew study that found Latinos and blacks use telehealth more than white respondents mainly because of health disparities.

Skew Towards Video Visits Preference

Rock Health survey indicates that 51% of the respondents preferred video telemedicine compared to other telehealth modalities. Unfortunately, video visit satisfaction rates declined between 2020 and 2021. The authors indicate that the latter is due to the shift in expectations around the purpose of telehealth. In 2020, the respondent believed telehealth as an alternative to in-person visits rather than a replacement to patient care in 2021. Virtual care assumed a new dimension, with the video visits increasing during the pandemic.

Author securemedical
10
Dec
Date December 10, 2021
Categories Telemedicine

New Investments In Telehealth and Virtual Healthcare (Sparked By COVID-19)

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the world’s outlook on telehealth, telemedicine, and virtual health care. According to the American Hospital Association, telehealth visits have increased by 38% of their pre-COVID levels.

While these levels are at an all-time high, there is still growth expected as virtual health visits take the place of in-person care. Research shows that more than half of US hospitals began using telemedicine to respond to quarantine and mandatory lockdown during the pandemic.

Healthcare providers say conditions that benefit from telehealth monitoring include chronic physical and mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and neurological disorders.

How Telehealth Visits Work

Telehealth visits are like in-person clinical visits, with one significant difference, instead of meeting in person. Doctors and patients connect via a virtual video chat room and talk to each other face-to-face. Patients link to a doctor using telehealth platforms such as Ourdoctor, during telehealth visits using an internet-connected device.

New Technology Investments in Telehealth

Hospitals and health care providers worldwide are looking at updating patient portals to make it easier for doctors and patients to connect. Telehealth visits are available on smartphones, desktops, laptops, and tablets.

Self-Service Health Care Options

Patients who can connect to their providers via video visit are less likely to miss their appointments due to time constraints or traffic issues. Using self-service health care options saves providers and patients time and money on travel time and potentially lost visits.

Remote Patient Monitoring

Significant investments are also made in remote patient monitoring software and technology. Some forward-thinking hospitals, doctor’s offices, and clinics can monitor patient vital signs like heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels via connected sensors.

Healthcare App Development

Significant investments are happening in customized platforms such as Ourdoctor telehealth services, which are developing as doctors, hospitals, and other medical professionals realize telemedicine’s value.

Author securemedical
12
Nov
Date November 12, 2021
Categories Telemedicine

The Rise of Telecardiology in the Wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The modern world has had a shift in how people access medical care during the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s because interpersonal consultations and doctor visits came to a complete halt. Telehealth has become a popular means through which people can access healthcare remotely. One such medical practice area is telecardiology that treats heat-related illnesses.

Telecardiology Defined

Telecardiology isn’t a new concept. Cardiologists have long utilized different forms of technology to treat patients with heart-related issues. Telecardiology refers to remotely interpreting electrocardiographic recordings via technology such as video conferencing. For instance, technology helps doctors to check pacemakers or transmit patient data remotely. That helps manage a patient’s heart condition effectively.

Advanced medical technology has contributed to the growth of telecardiology. Medical technology includes keeping records of cardiac images in digital formats. These formats allow hospital staff to send data to centralized sites where cardiovascular specialists interpret the information using artificial intelligence.

Rather than eliminate the need for in-person treatment, telecardiology is a welcome supplementary treatment for primary care. Moreover, it helps cut hospital visits and in-patient care. Besides, you have the freedom to seek treatment from the comfort of your home or office.

Are There Any Concerns?

As much as telehealth is successful, it doesn’t offer a perfect treatment scenario. Doctors are still trying to figure these things out:

  • The appropriate timeline to see a patient by teleconference rather than in-person
  • How to blend telecardiology with in-person visits or in-patient care
  • How to handle teleconference visits for new patients when there’s no previous relationship
  • The implications of patients communicating with other cardiovascular disease healthcare providers
  • Insurance reimbursements for telecardiology visit fees

Telecardiology is a step in the right direction in the cardiology world, but there’s still a long way to go. Luckily, there’s a bright light at the end of the tunnel. It all starts with developing a solid plan for the best patient care. The future of telemedicine looks better with each passing day and advancements in technology.

Author securemedical
05
Nov
Date November 5, 2021
Categories Telemedicine

Prenatal and Newborn Health Care, Virtually

Successful pregnancy needs like 10-15 doctors’ visitors, but this number is reduced by a half by using the virtual care for expectant parents.


Telehealth incorporates of a wide range of services such as


• virtual visits


• remote patient monitoring


These services capture data recorded on mobile devices

Putting Families First With Virtual Care


The joy and wish of any mother is to bring a full term baby into the world, but in cases of premature births, a baby may experience feeding difficulties. Since the body needs nutrients to grow, they are fitted with a nasogastric (NG) tube that helps them take in nutrients as they are bottle-fed around-the-clock to ultimately move them off the tube. However, there are suggestions by researchers that a baby recovers better and quicker while with the parents.

Prenatal Care Goes Virtual With Telehealth


Prenatal telehealth programs have similar structures that involve take home equipment such as blood pressure cuffs and the fetal heart heart rate monitors together with a secure portal.
During virtual visits, patients send heart rate, fetal heart rate, blood pressure and weight, which nurses record and send informative through the portals.


Moreover, pregnant patients had increased due to the pandemic hence the use of remote monitoring. Most pregnant patients used the Mayo Clinic’s patient portal for visits, which was later followed by secure clinical virtual visits over zoom. The program increased over 10x during the pandemic but since the easing of Covid-19 rules, patients now find it easier to visit a clinician. To learn more about telehealth services visit Ourdoctor.com

Author securemedical
22
Oct
Date October 22, 2021
Categories Telemedicine

Telehealth Comes With Many Benefits, But at What Cost?

During the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, most world economies shut down. With total lockdowns in place and people staying under quarantine in homes, telehealth gained immense popularity as a means of accessing medical care. It allowed people to see a doctor without having to leave home. Telehealth also brought convenience, allowing people to access healthcare remotely without incurring costly transportation costs to the hospitals.

As much as telehealth is convenient, fast, and a readily available means of securing health care services, the amount of money that medical centers charge has raised eyebrows and many questions among patients. Concerns about the unexpected bills to cover appointments and follow-ups out-of-pocket (even if you have insurance) have been on the rise. The big question is, why is telehealth becoming expensive by the day?

The Happenings

Most insurance companies are rolling back on the covers they provided patients when the pandemic was at its peak. With current uncertainties, insurance providers keep on changing policies, even doing away with some coverage altogether. As a move to cover their interests, medical care providers have to charge extra (regardless of insurance status) as they aren’t sure of reimbursements from insurance carriers.

Most hospitals are also billing the cost of the virtual appointment and teleconferencing, which is typically not part of the insurance coverage. Generally, the high price of telehealth appointments may result from:

  • The time the doctor takes to complete an assignment, with longer works attracting a higher charge
  • The complexity of the case, where complex issues may need extra attention and consequently, more charges
  • The amount of data the doctor reviews, in which a high workload could mean more time explaining the results and more money to pay

Mitigating the High Telehealth Costs

While the high bills may be unavoidable, you can quickly get ahead of the problem by figuring out what services your insurance provider is willing to cover and whether your preferred medical provider accepts insurance coverage for the same services. Check whether your insurance carrier is willing to pay for your virtual visits and all the resulting costs. With this information, you can easily align your visit with a medical center that fully accepts your insurance coverage, and you’ll avoid the extra bills.

The Solution

If you don’t have insurance, or you do, and the cost of telemedicine is so high, the benefits aren’t worth it. Ourdoctor telehealth is an excellent option for those who don’t or do have insurance. You Can have access to telehealth for an affordable price 24/7. To learn more about Ourdoctor telehealth services, visit Ourdoctor.com

Author securemedical
03
Sep
Date September 3, 2021
Categories Telemedicine

How a Telehealth Policy Can Make Healthcare More Even-Handed For Americans

Telehealth is a term that refers to using technology to provide medical care at a distance. It includes directly connecting with patients for audiovisual communication, remote patient monitoring of physiologic and other parameters in their homes or between healthcare facilities.

Telehealth and COVID-19

Telehealth has benefitted society and pediatricians during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, healthcare providers are now advocating to create policies that address children’s unique needs after this extreme event has subsided.

Many telemedicine barriers were lifted temporarily due to the crisis. Still, there must be a long-term solution for payment restrictions so that health care can continue seamlessly in future models of pediatrics without interruption or decline in quality.

AAP Policy on Telehealth

The American Academy of Pediatrics published a policy statement on how telehealth can be used to increase patient access. It also advocates for equitable telehealth access and adequate payment coverage. One identified goal is that all children should access quality health care regardless of geographic location or socioeconomic status.

Another focus is making sure young patients are not excluded from benefits because they happen to live far away from their provider’s office. This would ensure equity with rural populations who benefit more than anyone else through telemedical support networks such as broadband internet connections on school buses.

Telehealth technologies may provide high-quality care to patients in rural areas. However, these technology improvements mustn’t widen health disparities resulting from the digital divide.

Physicians must ensure health care delivery meets quality standards and maintain pediatricians’ status as key stakeholders in the process. According to policy, there will be opportunities to determine evidence-based best practices for children during this new era of healthcare.

Further, it is vital to provide a coordinated and personalized approach for pediatric care. Kids deserve access to continuous, integrated health care that includes both in-person and virtual options as appropriate. The medical home model will likely evolve with technology, but the core component of avoiding fragmented and episodic treatment remains intact.

Takeaway

According to a new policy statement, pediatric health care providers should be compensated for the time and effort they put into virtual visits. While there are costs associated with implementing telehealth technologies, digital healthcare can benefit clinicians and patients by providing more flexibility during doctor’s appointments; it might also help reduce phone expenses from traveling long distances to visit doctors in person.

Author securemedical
13
Aug
Date August 13, 2021
Categories Telemedicine

Improving Primary Care Access Via Telehealth for Older Adults

Telemedicine offers a critical lifeline for those at risk of getting COVID infections and invalidates transportation as a restriction to medical treatment in rural or remote areas. However, it also presents problems related to patients’ access, quality, and equality while utilizing telemedicine, particularly for elderly patients.
In some cases, doctors will be able to come to the home of a relative or caretaker, but if they can’t, then telephone-based telemedicine may be the option.


In reviewing over 20,000 elderly patients, there was no significant difference in usage by age or gender, although the use differed by race. When it came to patients’ ethnicity, black patients would like to use telemedicine to obtain primary care, while Hispanic patients would not. A study found patients who had a telemedicine consultation had a reduced chance of hospitalization for illnesses.


However, the incidence of hospitalization among black patients who used telemedicine was more than for white patients. In the 85 and older age group, patients who used telemedicine were likewise at greater risk of hospitalization when compared to individuals ages 65 to 74.


The telehealth service must provide access to and training for telemedicine platforms for it to be successful. That may be a barrier for elderly individuals and those with limited internet access.
A third of all visits to physicians’ offices are for older individuals, who typically have a range of additional conditions and impairments.


The research estimated that 13 million people age 60 and over struggle to obtain telemedicine services. With about 6.3 million people 65 and older who have poor or no previous experience with technology and with age-related visual impairment, telephone calls may enhance access to technology for them. However, phone visits are unsatisfactory for accessing treatment that requires visual evaluation.


The community must find a way to overcome the digital gap. Beginning in early 2020, Medicare Services was paying for video and in-person visits at the same rates. That should make all treatments affordable and accessible. Health care providers and communications companies should provide insurance plans that cover the use of telecommunication equipment, particularly as universal telemedicine becomes more prevalent.

Author securemedical
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