3 Ways Telehealth Is Changing the Medical Landscape

Telehealth is changing the medical landscape in some surprising ways. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has been thrown into the spotlight and has grown appreciably as a result. While it was fast becoming a preferred option even before the pandemic hit, it now stands as the go-to option in many cases for the majority of patients. Here are three ways that telehealth is changing the medical landscape today.

Access to Doctors

One of the biggest barriers that telehealth breaks down is inaccessibility to doctors. Due to a shortage of physicians, visiting a doctor in person in the U.S. is becoming increasingly difficult. This especially makes finding specialists for a specific condition rather challenging. While telemedicine will not solve this issue entirely, it can and does help by providing access to doctors for consultations and connecting patients with specialists who may be working on the other side of the country.

Time Spent

With telemedicine, doctors can answer questions and address patient concerns through a simple video conference rather than requiring the patient to make an appointment or make an expensive trip to the emergency room. Overall, this works to reduce delays in treatment and provide medical information as quickly and clearly as possible.

Consistency

Telehealth offers a consistent option for continued patient monitoring through follow-up visits. It isn’t always easy to secure an appointment or get to the nearest doctor’s office in person, but telemedicine offers a way to check in with patients without having to negotiate transportation.

The Bottom Line

Telehealth is changing how doctors and patients interact both on the micro and macro scale. For instance, alcohol addiction patients receive treatment around eight years after first developing the condition, on average. Recent breakthroughs in the use of telehealth with its increased privacy and ability to be used nearly anywhere with a good internet connection mean that alcohol addiction patients now have the opportunity to see both primary care doctors and specialists regarding their condition much sooner.

While not everything can be done over video conference, telehealth has been working wonders for triage and easily treatable conditions so far. It looks like telehealth is here to stay, even after we’ve all safely moved away from the pandemic lockdowns. To learn more about how telehealth can help you, contact Peace Medical.