Question

How important is telemedicine and telehealth in providing access to care? In improving quality of care?

this question from health information system course

Answer 1

Telehealth has overcome the barriers of healthcare caused by the distance between the provider and the patient, transportation issues, monetary issues, discontinuity of care due to appointment gaps, and availability of providers in a particular region. Telehealth is capable of changing the present paradigm of providing care and allowing better access and better healthcare outcomes in a cost-effective manner. Telehealth gives increased access to healthcare as remote patients are able to easily obtain healthcare services. Patients living in remote areas are able to access various services including intensive care and emergency services. Telemedicine provides quality healthcare to rural area patients and the ones with mobility or transportation issues. Telemedicine makes it possible for hospitals/clinics to offer services to a large number of patients who don’t live in proximity to these hospitals/clinics through remote access consultations. New patient-centered approaches enabled by telemedicine such as better timeliness, i.e. providing care at the very moment it is needed, which is critical for the quality of patient care, has lead to improved quality of care. Telemedicine patients have been found to have less depression/anxiety or any form of stress. The psychological well-being of these patients was found to be better than the other group of patients and they had 38% lesser hospital admissions. Telemedicine has been a great relief for people during the COVID19 pandemic to get access to quality care when people couldn’t step out of their homes and hospitals were overcrowded with the COVID19 patients.