Telemedicine is a health practice that allows patients to access doctors who are far away through the use of web and video conferencing services and technologies. But, while in Canada telemedicine has already been implemented by the healthcare industry, in the United States the way is still being paved for telemedicine to become mainstream.
For example, in Canada the OTN (Ontario Telemedicine Network) is connected to every hospital in the province and, in 2010 alone, it was responsible for more than 134,000 consultations. Now, OTN is expanding its network to reach patients at home. 90% of the Canadian patients have stated they like their telemedicine services.
In the US telemedicine is still giving its first steps and, although there are legislative problems that must be addressed first, like the fact that doctors cannot practice outside the state they’re licensed in, remote clinical consultations can greatly benefit patients, doctors and the government.
According to the FCC National Broadband Plan, telemedicine could save the government over $700 billion in healthcare costs over the next 15 to 25 years.
Another report from the UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform & Modernization has stated that rural areas in the United States have a higher demand for healthcare professionals than it was expected. Telemedicine could play a determinant role in filling this demand by allowing patients in rural areas to have access through video and web conferencing to specialists in the bigger and more developed urban areas.
Video and web conferencing also potentially become a great tool to share information between doctors and healthcare institutions. For example, a doctor in New York could ask a specialist in San Francisco for help regarding a diagnosis.
Many telecom providers are already seeing in telemedicine a great business opportunity. Verizon, AT&T and Sprint have all announced new initiatives for remote healthcare services.
AT&T has launched AT&T ForHealth, which delivers several systems for the healthcare industry, Verizon has the Health Information Exchange, a service that puts the patients clinical data available over the internet, and Sprint has partnered with AirStrip technologies to develop software that transmits medical data using wireless networks.
As telemedicine is preparing to revolutionize healthcare in the U.S. better video and web conferencing systems must be adopted to provide the best telemedicine services available.
Technologies like RHUB’s web and video conferencing appliances, which offer the best services available in the market today, must be implemented to give telemedicine in the U.S. the best start possible.
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