Flu season is getting worse as time passes by, especially since 2004 when health officials began maintaining health records on the same. A recent report from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that 53 deaths have been claimed by Flu this season. Consequently, a report from CNN showed that Puerto Rico and a total of 48 states are under attack from the Flu. The rate at which the Flu is spreading this season is alarming. Those affected or suspected to have caught the disease, are flocking into accessible health facilities for treatments.
Owing to advancement in technology, faster, efficient, and pocket-friendly alternatives for treatment delivery to patients all over the states are currently available. Among the options is telemedicine, a technology-based e-health care service where a patient seeks and receives the services of a doctor through technological means such as teleconferencing, video chat applications, and phone calls. The arrangement is so efficient that it saves hospitals and health care clinics from a backlog of patients whom could otherwise get doctors aid without physically visiting the hospital’s premises.
Some non-life threatening diseases such as seasonal illnesses do not necessarily require a face- to- face contact with the doctor for treatment delivery. Telemedicine moves in to fill this gap and saves the hospital’s facilities for more dire cases. Dr. Stormee Williams seconds the importance of telemedicine in an interview at NBC DFW. He further says that telemedicine can help eliminate the risks of spreading contagious diseases from sick people to healthy ones crowding hospital premises.
Telemedicine gives people an option that not only saves time, which one waste in a waiting lobby to see a doctor but also the inconveniences of taking time off work and the traveling expenses. Another benefit of telemedicine is that most insurance companies cover the services. All that one needs to do is to sign up for the service, contact a doctor, get an appointment, receive a prescription, visit a drug store to pick the medicine and do a follow up with the doctor to ascertain you are doing just fine.
Telemedicine goes beyond flu season. It helps the isolated people, especially in rural areas access treatments. It also helps those with difficult time visiting doctor’s office, like single mothers who can’t leave a child and travel to see a doctor, receive medical services. Telemedicine has proved to improve treatment delivery and save money and time. Therefore, it is paramount for state authorities to abolish regulatory hurdles to telemedicine.