Telehealth: Why Your Healthcare Business Needs to Adopt this Remote Health Monitoring Model?

Highlights:

• Introduction
• Convenience and flexibility offered by telemedicine
• Role of telemedicine in controlling infectious diseases
• Improvement of healthcare services due to telemedicine
• Advancements in the telehealth industry

The purpose of any technology is to simplify people’s lives and make scientific advancements accessible to all. In this context, the technologies integrated in the medical sector so far have enabled vulnerable and marginalized sections of society to access medical services. Moreover, these technologies have improved the overall quality of medical services across the globe. In the past few years, telehealth has emerged as one such technology which has changed the face of the global healthcare sector. Telehealth, also called telemedicine, is the use of digital communication technologies to deliver critical medical services remotely.

Convenience and flexibility offered by telehealth

The healthcare industry in almost all countries of the globe has latched on to the idea of telehealth. The Asia-Pacific region has been at the forefront of this shift towards remote patient monitoring. In fact, the India telehealth industry is anticipated to be the fastest growing with a stunning CAGR of 33.1%, while Rest of Asia-Pacific region ranks second with a CAGR of 31.9% by 2032. Convenience and flexibility are the two main reasons behind this growth in adoption of remote health monitoring.

Telemedicine services offer a convenient and comfortable way to access medical services. Unlike traditional ways where the patient visits a clinic or hospital for health checkups, telemedicine allows patients to communicate with doctors and medical practitioners from the comfort of their homes. Also, this remote patient monitoring model offers flexibility to both patients and healthcare providers as rescheduling of appointments can be done easily.

How does telemedicine help in controlling infectious diseases?

An important advantage of virtual health services, which became evident during the Covid-19 pandemic, is that they help in controlling infectious diseases. During the pandemic, lockdowns and social distancing norms were put in place to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. At the same time, there was hesitation among patients to visit hospitals due to fear of infection. Both these factors restricted common masses from accessing medical services. Telemedicine and virtual health monitoring, in such a scenario, offered an alternative for availing emergency healthcare services. The proven effectiveness of telemedicine during the pandemic has increased its popularity since then.

Access to better quality healthcare at lower costs

Access to better quality healthcare is probably the biggest reason why the telehealth industry has flourished in the past few years. People from one part of the world, with the use of advanced communication technologies, can directly connect with doctors practicing in another part of the world. Thus, even people residing in remote parts of the globe can seek medical advice and treatment from the best of the doctors in the world. Moreover, certain medical cases require collaboration between different streams of medicine. In such cases, the best doctors in those respective fields can connect over telemedicine platforms and offer holistic advice to the patient.

In the long run, remote patient monitoring is expected to reduce the cost of medical services. Since connecting with doctors across the globe becomes possible through telehealth, healthcare providers deal with a larger pool of patients. Thus, by bringing down the cost of medical services, they can attract a substantial proportion of this pool. Patients, too, will benefit from this model as the cost of medical treatments will fall. Thus, telemedicine holds benefits for both healthcare providers and patients. Due to this very fact, the healthcare providers segment is projected to gather a revenue of 276,632.66 million by 2032. On the other hand, the patients segment is set to amass a revenue of 156,636.03 million during the same period.

Advancements in the telehealth industry

One major issue with the use of digital technologies in the medical sector is that of privacy and confidentiality. Telehealth services, being dependent on digital communication technologies, generate a lot of data; this medical data is usually at a high risk due to rising threats of cyberattacks. This erodes the trust in technology and prevents patients from opting for virtual health services. To tackle this challenge, the telehealth industry has sought the help of emerging technologies such as Big Data analytics. Big Data analytics helps telemedicine service providers to segregate data and store electronic health records (EHR) on cloud. This helps in efficient data management, thereby securing it from outside threats and leaks.

The use of advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and big data aid in predictive analytics. Predictive analytics in healthcare basically entails early detection of chronic illnesses from the smallest of symptoms. Predictive analytics, thus, helps in improving the quality of medical services at each stage including diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

To conclude, telemedicine is a shining example of the positive impact of integration of technology in the medical sector. With the advent of advanced technologies such as AI, ML, and Big Data analytics, the scope of the telehealth industry is sure to expand in the coming period. Such innovative developments will ultimately lead to the building of a healthier planet.

 

For an in-depth analysis of the growth drivers and investment opportunities in the telehealth industry, talk to our experts today!

Related Post