Telemedicine platforms have proven to be extremely effective at reducing wait times and giving patients easier access to medical advice. These services can allow doctors to communicate with patients (and other medical professionals) with a great deal of ease across large distances.
By incorporating the most recent advances in telemedicine systems, your practice can become even more efficient at treating patients than ever before. Telemedicine can lower costs, increase revenue, and increase patient satisfaction and retention.
This method of treating patients is not without its challenges. Read on to learn more about the pros and cons of telemedicine. By understanding both the benefits and disadvantages of telemedicine, you can learn how to bring your health centre or hospital into the new decade:
Pro: Telemedicine is easier than going to your doctor.
Your patients want the easiest possible access to healthcare. The ability to use telemedicine is a major advantage for many patients. This means they don’t need to make time in their schedules to come into the office for an appointment. This is especially true for minor health complaints that can be handled through telemedicine.
Pro: Telemedicine can serve patients who live in remote locations.
Virtual healthcare can serve the needs of patients that live in remote locations or cannot leave their homes easily. Through the past few years, there have been a great many technological breakthroughs that make telemedicine much more effective than just a phone call. For patients who need this remote access to healthcare, telemedicine is essential.
Pro: Telemedicine saves money.
You will be able to service the needs of your patients in less time and reduce costs for both yourself and for the patient. Telemedicine can cut back on unnecessary doctor visits and the cost of transportation to and from appointments. This advantage of telemedicine frees up your time as well as the time of your patients, so that everybody can focus on other things in their lives.
Pro: Telemedicine allows doctors to work from home.
For hours that a doctor wishes to work with patients through telemedicine, they can do so from the comfort of their own home. This means less time commuting and more time treating patients. This also means that you will be able to take on a lot more patients. With fewer no shows and no late patients, you will be able to eliminate a great deal of frustrations from your day to day.
Con: Telemedicine requires investment of training and equipment.
There will need to be some time and money invested into the new technology that is needed to make telemedicine in your practice come to life. Training on the new systems will take some time. Once this training is complete, everyone’s working day will be significantly easier. If you are planning to invest in telemedicine you need to ensure that every member of the team is on board and willing to learn.
Con: There is less in-person contact.
If you are concerned about the limitations of what you will be able to do when it comes to telemedicine you are not alone. There is a small risk of misunderstanding someone when over a video call, or the connection no being ideal. Physical examinations might also be needed, for this, there is no work around for telemedicine.
However, telemedicine can act as a first point of contact and where it can be decided if an in-person appointment is needed.
Con: Not all patients are familiar with telemedicine.
If the telemedicine service that the patient uses is on demand, it may connect them to a healthcare professional that they have never spoken to before. This may be of concern to some patients, however, this will also be managed through technology.
All of the patient’s records be visible to the medical professional during the time that they interact with the patient. Also, if follow up or additional services are needed, it is possible to set up the system so that continuity of care can exist in the telemedicine world.
Con: Not all patients want to use telemedicine.
For some patients there will be some resistance to adopting new technologies that they are unfamiliar with. This is inevitable and unavoidable. This is something that will have to be dealt with on a patient by patient basis. It is also worth noting that many patients find comfort in seeing their doctor and being given a clean bill of health. Convenience is not always at the top of every patient’s list when they seek medical advice.
While telemedicine is clearly the future of medicine, it is still new and as such there will be some challenges with its initial rollout. Over time these teething problems will work themselves out. The sooner that you begin to adopt telemedicine the sooner that you will be able to take full advantage of all of the benefits that are on offer. That said, here are some of the cons of telemedicine.
