By: Nik Korba

To serve the needs of today’s patients, the healthcare industry must overcome two key challenges. First, it needs to be more accessible, empowering patients to get the care they need, when and where they need it. Second, healthcare needs to be more affordable, removing the financial barriers that are forcing more than 60 percent of patients in the US to go without the care they need.

Telehealth fixes both of those problems. Its innovative care delivery solutions connect patients to health professionals to maximize convenience and flexibility while minimizing costs. By addressing accessibility and affordability issues, telehealth is paving the way for the future of healthcare.

Telehealth Comes of Age

As the current decade began, few had embraced telehealth as a healthcare option. Studies assessing the state of telehealth at that time refer to it as an “underused” and “understudied” resource subject to regulatory and administrative hurdles that discouraged engagement.

Then Covid occurred. Telehealth use surged during the COVID-19 pandemic as providers and patients suddenly needed new options for engaging with the healthcare process remotely. Studies show that telehealth use among those with private insurance increased a staggering 766 percent during the first three months of the pandemic.

“Today, telehealth is bigger than ever,” says Josh Thompson, CEO of Impact Health USA and Impact Health University. “Health professionals and patients may want to explore the post-pandemic future of telehealth. Although some service providers and patients are eager to return to in-person visits, others predict that telehealth, with its flexibility and convenience, is here to stay.”

Impact Health USA is playing a vital role in the telehealth revolution by providing a ground-breaking national telehealth platform offering primary care, mental health support, and obesity medications. It empowers better healthcare access in all 50 US states while also providing opportunities for entrepreneurs to launch their own healthcare clinics. Impact Health University supports the telehealth movement by advising clinic owners to run successful healthcare businesses.

Generally, the feedback on patients’ telehealth experiences during the pandemic was positive. One study shows that 60 percent found it more convenient than in-office visits, and 55 percent were more satisfied with the care they received via telehealth.

One key finding of the study is that 63 percent of patients expressed interest in engaging with more comprehensive telehealth solutions, such as online scheduling and virtual-first health plans. While the shift to telehealth may have been forced by the restrictions brought on by the pandemic, the majority of those who experienced it say they liked it — and they want more.

Telehealth Is Reshaping Patient-Provider Engagement

With conventional healthcare, patients and providers only have the option of an in-office visit. Consultations, evaluations, and follow-ups occur at the provider’s brick-and-mortar health facility.

With telehealth, patients and providers have options that make access more efficient. Real-time connections via telephone or video chats, sometimes called synchronous telehealth communication, are one of the primary means of telehealth delivery. This approach facilitates purely telehealth connections and hybrid connections, such as using telehealth platforms to share the results of in-office examinations with remote members of healthcare teams.

“Telehealth encompasses a wide range of services on many different telehealth platforms,” Thompson explains. “Patients may seek mental health support via app-hosted secure text messages with a counselor, videoconference with a primary care physician about emerging physical symptoms, or attend a Zoom meeting about local public health initiatives.”

Telehealth’s capability for asynchronous communication is another option that streamlines patient care. This feature involves “store and forward” technology, which empowers providers to collect data such as notes, images, and metrics remotely and securely.

Remote patient monitoring is another significant benefit of telehealth, which is improving patient-provider engagement. Through both synchronous and asynchronous communication, telehealth allows providers to monitor clinical measurements such as insulin levels, blood pressure, or sleep patterns.

“Telehealth technologies are transforming how patients seek and receive treatment and care,” Thompson says. “Today, patients can talk with care providers in real-time, get answers to their questions, receive prescriptions, send photos and messages through encrypted chat portals, and keep track of medical records wirelessly through cloud sharing programs — all without ever entering a brick-and-mortar health facility.”

Telehealth Is Reducing Care-Related Costs

Telehealth has the potential to affect healthcare affordability in several ways. One of the most impactful is a reduction in facility costs. By minimizing the size of physical facilities — or eliminating them altogether — healthcare providers can gain considerable savings on rent, utilities, staffing, and other expenses, ultimately passing those savings on to patients through lower fees.

Telehealth also reduces patient costs associated with travel — both money and time. By allowing consultations to take place remotely, telehealth improves the affordability of primary care while also reducing the costs associated with accessing specialized care.

From a long-term perspective, telehealth can potentially reduce healthcare costs by increasing engagement with preventative care. It facilitates a proactive approach that prevents treatable issues from becoming serious health problems that require costly treatment.

Telehealth empowers much more than remote access to healthcare. It brings healthcare into the modern age, reshaping it to better serve the needs of today’s patients and providers.

“The future of telehealth is vast,” Thompson says. “With so many apps and software programs to choose from, patients and providers have more ways to connect than ever before.”

Published By: Aize Perez