Telemedicine or telehealth allows phone and video-based appointments between patients and their healthcare providers. These at-home medical appointments benefit both convenience and health, and more and more healthcare providers are offering consultations to patients via phone or computer.
Health organizations are now offering online medical consultations and are fast increasing their telehealth options. Additionally, improved technology has made access to quality healthcare easy, even for people who are not particularly tech-savvy. Patients can use telemedicine services through a mobile app or request a virtual doctor visit with expert physicians and medical practitioners.
How At-Home Online Doctor Appointments Are Offering Benefits to Patients
There are numerous advantages to using telemedicine or telehealth services. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Better Convenience
One of the biggest benefits of telemedicine is that it eliminates the need to drive to a clinic or hospital, park the car, walk to the facility, and then sit in the waiting room when you are not feeling your best. Telehealth allows you to get a consultation with a practitioner from the comfort of your bed or living room couch.
Telehealth and primary care membership allow you to get a consultation with a practitioner from the comfort of your bed or living room couch.
Patients can also accommodate virtual visits more easily in their busy schedules. This means you do not need to take time off from work or arrange for someone to take care of your child while you visit the doctor.
Control the Spread of Infectious Illnesses
Source: quincymutual.com
Telehealth is also very effective in preventing the spread of flu, cold, COVID-19, and other types of infectious illnesses. Telemedicine appointments can be used to prescreen patients for signs of any potentially infectious diseases. In addition, it also prevents sick people from coming to the doctor’s office.
Less exposure to other people’s germs can reduce the risk of illnesses, especially for vulnerable people like those with chronic or autoimmune illnesses, pregnant women, the elderly, and small children.
Improved Evaluation
One important advantage of telemedicine is that it allows the medical practitioner to see you in your home setting. For example, if you have scheduled an appointment for allergies, your doctor may be able to find clues in your home that might be triggering your allergies.
Physical and neurological therapists can diagnose your condition and find out whether you are able to navigate easily and take care of yourself in your home. In addition, telehealth services are also an excellent way to get evaluation and counseling for mental health conditions.
Family Support
Many people want the support of their family or loved ones when they are consulting with their doctors. These supporting individuals can provide complete information, carefully note down the doctor’s answers, and ask questions that patients might have missed. They may also be simply there to provide moral support.
If your loved one doesn’t live with you or lives at a distance from you, telehealth services can loop them in the online appointment if you authorize it.
Primary Care Management
Telehealth services give improved access to routine visits to primary care doctors, including family care doctors online, as well as critical care doctors that are essential to your health. Telehealth services can make it easy for people to access quality healthcare.
Some telehealth systems are set up in a way that new patients may be available to access the next available doctor, which saves a lot of time for both patients and doctors.
In addition, many online medical healthcare systems offer 24/7 access to various specialists, and people can get their services at any time of the day and night.
Consistent Care for People With Chronic or Autoimmune Diseases
Source: healthline.com
People who have chronic diseases or autoimmune diseases require consistent care and may need quick consultations if their condition takes a turn for the worst. Telehealth services can offer them ongoing support by helping them manage their symptoms and watch for signs of any new condition or illness. It can also warn the doctor of a potential medical emergency, which can help the patient get quick intervention that may save their life.
Medical Access for People Without Health Insurance
Doctors can be expensive, even for people who have health insurance. For those who do not have insurance, an in-person visit to a doctor’s office can be cost-prohibitive. This results in delayed medical treatment.
Telemedicine appointments are typically less costly than in-person medical consultations. This is one of the major reasons why it is so popular among people with low economic backgrounds. In addition, many telehealth companies also offer cash-pay telemedicine, which does not require you to have private health insurance or even Medicaid or Medicare.
Healthcare Access to Remote Areas
People who live in rural areas often do not have fast access to quality medical care. For people who live several miles away from a clinic or hospital, telehealth service can be a lifesaver by connecting them on an immediate basis to a doctor.
This has saved a lot of time and has prevented sick people from driving in conditions that may not be optimal, like rough roads and bad weather.
Medical Access to Underserved Communities
Source: health.clevelandclinic.org
During the coronavirus pandemic, people in underserved communities, like people with low socioeconomic backgrounds, no health insurance, uncertain visa status, or people of color, were the most affected due to the lockdown as they were left without the proper healthcare.
Diabetes telemedicine has helped these people get connected to a doctor from the comforts of their homes and enabled them to get help before they get extremely ill.
Fast Care for Small Children
Babies and children often get sick quickly in the middle of the night. Rather than scour the internet for home remedies or attempt to self-medicate the child themselves, telehealth gives parents the option to get access to an expert online doctor who can respond to their concerns, diagnose their child, and even provide them with a prescription when needed.
In addition, if a parent gets sick, telehealth eliminates the need to look for a carer to babysit their child. This reduced the extra expense of childcare.
Reduce Patient Anxiety
Many patients become anxious at the prospect of visiting the doctor. This feeling gets worse when they enter the waiting room and meet other patients who may also be anxious. This is a common cause of patient no-shows.
On the other hand, telehealth services provide you with a more comfortable and less intimidating way to access medical care and ask questions about your medical condition. This helps reduce anxiety and helps the patient get timely medical care.
