In: Nursing
Describe Telemedicine. Does Telemedicine increase or decrease the cost of healthcare?
Telemedicine dates back to 1950s. It is nothing but the communication of healthcare data using technology anywhere ,anytime between a patient and a health care provider .It can be either audio or video telemedicine service. This is highly beneficial to provide care and continuity of care for patient's in remote area, in late nights, holidays ,inability to travel ,convenient at homes to get service, can avoid long waiting hours travelling time ,etc.,
Telemedicine has greatly reduced the cost of healthcare. This is because it has reduced the hospital readmission rate ,remote monitoring has reduced the unnecessary inpatient admission which is costlier to afford healthcare services ,Televisits has reduced the number of emergency cased which is very costly to afford it, etc. , The statistics reveals around $19-$121 has been substantially decreased to the patient for each hospital visits .Hence Telemedicine has decreased the cost of healthcare .