As our society ages and health care costs increase, government and private insurance payers are seeking technological interventions. Changes in health care policies, demography, and technology have created new visions which help in the delivery of medical care to the rural community. Telehealth is an emerging component or solution to the growing demands of providing in the healthcare service industry. The advent of telemedicine proves to be promising as it helps to combat some of the challenges in our current healthcare system. Tele-health as defined here is the use of communication, diagnostic and information technology to provide health care when patients and providers are geographically separated; Technologies include videoconferencing, the internet, store -and-forward imaging, streaming media, terrestrial and wireless communications”( Schwamm, 2014). This paper provides an overview of telehealth technologies; costs benefits of using telehealth, government involvement support of telehealth, concerns and issues that need to be addressed in using telehealth by incorporate the system framework.
The health- care community has embraced technology, especially when it serves to try to help alleviate an issue or concern. Telehealth, or e-medicine, was developed by the health care and IT communities to help deliver services to patients’ via telecommunications and the Internet. Telehealth serves to provide a connection between practitioners and patients right in the comforts of their own homes. Telehealth opens up services to a vast population who might have had limited access to health care services. Telehealth is an innovative and beneficial method of delivering health care services to patients and should be implemented in every hea...
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...ng Corporation (TLC), which was founded in 1957 and headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina (telehealthmarketplace.com). According to researchers, telehealth has a historical discussion linking telemedicine to Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1875 because he was working on devices for the reproduction and transmission of sound to assist the hearing impaired (Smith, 2009). The study by Thurmond and Boyle found that the first launch of telemedicine can be expressed as the use of the telephone system in 1877 for communication between physicians and the local drug stores of the time.
Works Cited
Brecht, R.M., & Barrett, J.E. (2010). Telemedicine in the United States, in Viega, S.F. &
Dunne, K., (eds), Telemedicine Practicing in the Information Age. Philadelphia:
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[20]Charles BL. (2000) Telemedicine can lower costs and improve access. Healthcare Financial Management. 54(4): 66.
Telehealth is the monitoring via remote exchange of physiological data between a patient at home and health care professionals at hospitals or clinics to assist with diagnosis and treatment. As our society ages and health care costs increase, government and private insurance payers are seeking technological interventions. Technological solutions may provide high quality healthcare services at a distance, utilize professional resources more effectively, and enable elderly and ill patients to remain in their own homes. Patients may experience decreased hospitalization and urgent care settings, and out of home care may not be required as the patient is monitored at home. However, no study has been able to prove telehealth benefits conclusively. This change in health care delivery presents new ethical concerns, and new relationship boundaries between health care professionals, patients, and family members. This paper will discuss telehealth benefits in specific patient populations, costs benefits of using telehealth, and concerns of using telehealth.
The purpose of telemedicine is to remove distance as a barrier to health care. While telehealth is an accepted resource to bridge the gap between local and global health care, integrating telehealth into existing health infrastructures presents a challenge for both governments and policy makers (HRSA, 2011). Today there are policy barriers that prevent the expansion of telehealth, including reimbursement issues raised by Medicare and private payers, state licensure, and liability and privacy concerns.
XIAO-YING, Z., & PEIYING, Z. (2016). Telemedicine in clinical setting. Experimental & Therapeutic Medicine, 12(4), 2405-2407.
Telepsychiatry has been used for many years and is highly regarded as an area where the use of telemedicine has been successful. It has been defined as “The delivery of healthcare and the exchange of healthcare information for purposes of providing psychiatric services across distances” (Woo...
Among the main aims of health care reform and improvement is expanding healthcare access to different populations, which have been subjects to underserving for a long period. These include the poor, the previously uncovered, rural societies, and the minorities, to mention just a few. Great challenges definitely lie ahead, since several individuals start seeking access to the primary healthcare clinicians (Arnaert & Delesie, 2001). Telenursing assures to be a crucial tool to meet such needs. It refers to making use of the telehealth technology in conducting nursing practice and delivering nursing care. Because of the quick telemedicine technology adoption within the healthcare institutions, telenursing emerges as a fresh tool that provokes discussions
Implementing telehealth. support medical practice in rural/remote regions: what are the conditions for success? Implement Sci. 2006 Aug 24;1:18. Epub 2006 Aug 24.
Telemedicine is a new comer to the field of medicine and it is the treatment of patients by means of telecommunications technology. Telemedicine is carried out in a variety of ways whether it is by smart phone, wireless tools or other forms of telecommunications. Examples of telemedicine include: 1) transmission of medical images 2) care services at the home of the patient 3) Diagnosis at distance 4) education and training of patients. The diversity of practices in what is known as telemedicine raises many questions and one of those questions, which is extremely important, relate to the safety of the practice and the risks involved.
Providers are faced with having to weigh the expense of investing in telehealth technologies with the ability to generate enough revenue to cover these costs. This is often difficult as expenses in the literature can cover those directly linked with the delivery of care (healthcare costs) and those that are not directly related to providing care (non-heath care costs) (Bergmo, 2009). Some of the healthcare costs a practitioner must consider are items such as computers, video cameras, microphones, modems, routers, software and other components such as specialized stethoscopes and imaging equipment needed to assess an individual patient. The cost of these items can add up quickly. As one study estimates, the capital expenditure for the implementation of telehealth video conferencing can reach as much as $80,000. The cost of transmitting data in order to deliver these services can also reach $800-$2000 per month in spoke and hub type telehealth systems (Gamble, Savage, & Icenogle, 2004). These costs incur even more ...
Telehealth is the act of providing healthcare through the utilization of information/data processes and electric communication technology; it is used when a medical professional cannot meet with his or her patient due to distance related issues. The foremost goal of Telehealth is to ameliorate healthcare by delivering it to people who live in rural areas far away from a doctor, as well as mitigating expenditures for the patient. In addition, telehealth can eliminate social, cultural barriers, as well as stigmas when delivering health care. There are many tools/devices that are used for communication such as telephones, computers, fax machines, and interactive multimedia. Accordingly, through the equipment listed, Telehealth conveys patients’ healthcare data through telecommunication links via personal computer’s, imaging
Kansas is considered a rural state in the United States. Merriam-Webster (2012) defines rural theoretically as “open land” or “relating to the country, country people or life, or agriculture”. The U.S. Census Bureau considers rural to be “open country and settlements with fewer than 2,500 residents” (Cromartie, 2007). Nearly 17% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, which is about 80% of all U.S. territory (Cromartie, 2009). What this means that there is more land mass compared to the people inhabiting the land; rural communities have fewer people living in larger, more remote areas. Individuals living in rural communities have different cultures and experiences than those living in urban communities, which can become problematic in regards to healthcare.
Telemedicine can make specialty care more accessible to rural and medically underserved communities and can easily connect providers a...
Telehealth definition according to our textbook by Hebda, T., & Czar, P., 2013 is the use of telecommunications technologies and electronic information to exchange healthcare information and to provide and support services such as long-distance clinical healthcare to clients. It provides health care to patients that may not be able to have access to care. Telehealth requires a patient to have electronic tools to facilitate this type of service. Electronic tools can be a telephone, computer, or a video camera. The patient is able to call or enable video conferencing to have access to their health care provider. Telehealth allows the patient to have access to preventative care and education on their disease process and how to manage it at home.
From state and federal levels, the healthcare industry has come a very long way, experiencing changes along the way. The development of advanced technology that has enhanced the quality of healthcare delivery systems will help all patients to be able to benefit. Doctors are able to access patient records at a faster rate and respond to their patients in a much more timely fashion. E-mail, electronic transfer of records and telemedicine will give all patients and physicians the tools needed to be more efficient, deliver quality care and deliver quality telecommunication at a faster pace than before.
Imagine the ability to obtain healthcare services from almost anywhere in the world where you have access to a phone or computer. Now, imagine being able to provide nursing assessments, diagnosis, treatments, and recommendations to your patients from your home to almost anywhere in the world. Lauren Stokowski (2008) noted in her article that one fourth of the United States has rural residents. That number may appear small in comparison to the urban residences; however, rural residents have a tendency to to have “higher poverty rates, larger percentage of elderly, and tend to be in poorer health”. Could telenursing be a solution?