Once upon a time, if you wanted to go to the doctor, you would have to literally go to the doctor. But thankfully, that is no longer the case. With the advent of telecommunications came the capability for some basic medical work to be done over the phone, mainly rudimentary diagnosis. Now, with telecommunication technologies having developed at astonishing rates, the capabilities of our telecommunication services have allowed a form of medicine called telemedicine to quickly develop and flourish. Telemedicine is the science of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention all done remotely through a multifaceted approach of audio, video, imaging, and text. It aims to help those patients who would otherwise struggle to get medical help due to their isolated location.

If you’re someone who lives in a rural area with no access to a medical health practitioner, or someone with limited mobility for whom traveling is difficult, then telemedicine is precisely what you need. No longer is there a need to travel great distances in pain to see a doctor. Instead, you can get care as quickly as it takes to call a telemedical center. At this point, you’re probably wondering what the efficacy of telemedicine is comparative to traditional medicine. We understand that however convenient the form of medical help, nothing replaces effectiveness when it comes to one’s health. Let us put your mind at rest: many studies have proven the efficacy of telemedicine to be comparable to that of traditional medicine in many areas. Your doctor will be able to advise you on when and where telemedicine is a viable option for you, but if you’re someone with a smartphone, you have a huge amount of technological power in the palm of your hand – and health practitioners can tap into that technology to help track, diagnose, and treat any illnesses or diseases you may have.

With telemedicine, you can have a virtual doctor in your pocket as long as you’ve got access to a smartphone!

Mobile Collaboration

Mobile collaboration technology provides health care practitioners in multiple locations the ability to share information and work together on patient issues.

Remote Patient Monitoring

Remote patient monitoring significantly reduces the need for outpatient visits and facilitates remote prescription verification. This has the potential to significantly reduce the overall cost of medical care for both patients and the health care system.

Reduction in Infectious Diseases

If the idea of a health professional contracting an infectious disease from another patient and passing it onto you has you squirming, you’ll love telemedicine! It eliminates the possible transmission of infectious diseases or parasites between patients and health professionals as they do not come into contact with one another.

Embarrassed By Your Malady?

We understand that some maladies are more embarrassing to be seen with than others. And if you happen to have an embarrassing illness, disease, or wound, the thought of sitting in a doctor’s office may be overwhelming. That feeling of overwhelm may make you put off actually getting the help you need. In this instance, telemedicine is an ideal solution to your embarrassment. You will still have to share information and video/images with your doctor, but you can rest assured doctor-patient confidentiality will guarantee it doesn’t leave your communications.

All you need is a smartphone or tablet to access the medical care you require.

Suffering From a Chronic Illness?

Suffering from a chronic illness is difficult enough without having to deal with frequent journeys to medical centers. It can be extremely difficult to motivate yourself to make those journeys, regardless of how helpful they may be. Delaying the treatment of any illness or disease can lead it to becoming unmanageable. But with telemedicine, you can alleviate some of your pain by receiving help from the comfort of your home. Subsequently, you’ll be more likely to have the motivation necessary to ensure you stay diligent in administering any drugs or care.

Telepharmacy

With telemedicine, pharmacists can deliver medical prescriptions digitally. It’s particularly useful with chronic illnesses that require repeat prescriptions. Telepharmacy pharmaceuticals can be delivered at retail pharmacy sites or through hospitals, nursing homes, or other medical care facilities – wherever is easiest for the patient in question.

Reducing Patient Costs

It is easy to see how the use of telemedicine can reduce patient costs by reducing travel costs, as well as reducing unnecessary health care costs for the government through more timely and efficient electronic doctor visits, avoidance of unneeded ER trips, and nonadherence. All this leads to lower health care costs for patients.

Extended Access

With many areas of health care now using telemedicine, medical practices can consult with niche, specialist medical practitioners when trying to diagnose or treat patient illnesses and diseases far more rapidly. This means diagnosis and subsequent care comes about quicker and leads to far quicker recovery.

So what are you waiting for? It’s never been easier to pick up the phone and get your ailments, illnesses, wounds, and diseases cured or managed all from the comfort of your home. And it’s all thanks to the wonders of modern telecommunications and the technological innovations they have allowed within telemedicine.

Telemedicine may appear to be a new-fangled technology that is coming to destroy the jobs of established medical professionals, but the truth is that it’s been around for a long time and is just experiencing a renaissance thanks to smartphone technology. While people may be slightly fearful of what they don’t know, the reality is that telemedicine has the potential to change everything, both for patients and for doctors.

Simply put, telemedicine is the combination of telecommunications technology with medicine. It allows medical professionals to deliver diagnostic and medical advice over telecommunications technology. In earlier instances, technology such as radio and traditional telephones were used, particularly in rural areas and in war and combat environments. Nowadays, telemedicine is using smartphone technology to provide the best health care possible to all kinds of patients.

Telemedicine is revolutionizing the way doctors and patients communicate.

If you’re wondering how a telemedical appointment even works, you’re not alone. Luckily, the process is very simple for both patients and medical professionals. If you’re a patient, you can access a telemedical doctor via an online service. Depending on the service, you can either make an appointment or “walk in” to see someone. If you need to wait, you may have to stay in a virtual meeting room, but once you’re connected to a medical professional, they will conduct your appointment via your phone, usually by video chat. It is just like an in-person appointment. They will ask about your symptoms, your lifestyle, and any treatments that you may have administered to yourself at home. If they need to take your heart rate or blood pressure, you may have to visit a pharmacist to administer these tests, but otherwise, the appointment is very similar to an in-person consultation.

Your telemedical doctor will diagnose you and if you need a prescription, it can be sent directly to your pharmacist so you don’t have to worry about losing it. The best thing about telemedicine is that it takes a lot of the stress out of the hands of patients. It also caters to patients who may not be able to properly access traditional health care. If you have mobility issues, including physical disabilities, it is easier to receive medical advice over your smartphone as opposed to having to leave the house several times a month. It can also be very helpful for people suffering from mental or emotional conditions that may prevent them from being able to leave the house. Many mentally ill people are unable to access health care due to their social isolation, but telemedicine can help them to get the medical advice that they sorely need.

With smartphone technology, the possibilities for telemedical advances are endless.

Technological advances mean that you don’t even need a high-end smartphone to access telemedicine. Given that most phones these days have cameras and access to app stores, you are likely to have access to the technology that you need to get medical advice via telemedicine. It’s also very easy for medical professionals, as they likely only need a smartphone or a laptop themselves to be able to help patients. All both parties need is a camera and an internet connection to be able to make the relationship work. This flexibility means that doctors can work the hours that suit them as opposed to being slaves to strict clinical schedules, and that patients can see a doctor at a time that doesn’t interfere with their day-to-day lives. Given that we use our phones to manage most aspects of our lives, why wouldn’t we use it to easily track our medical progress?

Telemedicine also delivers information directly into the hands of patients. In a traditional clinical setting, your records are stored either physically or digitally in the doctor’s office, and you are unlikely to be able to access them without filing a special request. With telemedicine, your records are usually stored within your profile on the website that you use – and you can check your prescription or your consultation notes whenever you want. This process gives the power back to patients and means that you are not tied to a certain clinic because if you need to change service providers, your information is right there waiting for you.

Telemedicine is already changing so much in the medical world, both for patients and for doctors. It is allowing flexibility, empowering patients, and making it easier than ever to access real medical advice. It’s the best way for patients to be able to access health care in an easy and flexible way that doesn’t impinge too much on their lives, and doctors are able to access a larger and more diverse pool of patients as well as being able to work far more flexibly. It seems like an obvious choice for everyone – so what’s holding you back?

Sometimes, seeing your doctor can feel like the last thing that is on your list of priorities. Between work, socializing, family, and other things, it’s easy to let your regular doctor’s appointments slide. But even if you’re healthy, it’s really important to keep in touch with your general practitioner for regular check-ups to make sure that you stay in good working order.

The truth is that seeing a doctor regularly can often help you catch illnesses and conditions at the start before they get too serious. A good example of this is how all young women over a certain age should get a pap smear exam. When caught early, changes in cells in the cervix can be easily treated, but if you let your check-ups lapse, you may have to deal with the stressful treatments associated with cervical cancer – and that’s if you’re lucky enough to catch it in time. It is estimated that over 4,000 women a year will die of cervical cancer in the U.S. every year.

While this may sound like a dramatic doomsday scenario, there are less serious conditions that can be caught and treated by regular visits to your doctor. Anxiety, depression, skin conditions, joint pain, and other everyday ailments can be helped better if your doctor sees you regularly and can assess how you look when things aren’t normal. Regular blood pressure checks and blood tests can also ascertain how your body looks when you’re healthy, so you’ll be in a better position to notice when things aren’t so good.

Regular check-ups with your doctor are important – but what if it’s too hard to find the time to make an appointment? That’s where telemedicine comes in.

Even if you are well, seeing your doctor regularly will also give you access to an expert who can help you improve various parts of your life. Your doctor can advise you on your diet, mental wellness, and exercise routine, and can tell you what things you should avoid if you’re trying to be that little bit healthier.

It’s very easy to say that you need to see your doctor more – but who has the time to do this? If you’re a busy professional with significant work and personal commitments, it’s very difficult to prioritize a doctor’s appointment, especially when it’s “just” for maintenance reasons. It’s hard enough to get to the doctor’s office if you’re actually sick, but the good news is that there’s technology out there that is revolutionizing the lives of busy people everywhere.

Telemedicine is the use of telecommunications technology to deliver diagnostic or other health care advice. While it has been used in history since the advent of telecommunications, it is currently experiencing a boom thanks to the proliferation of smartphones. People who are too busy to see a doctor can use their phones to fill the gap, just like how we can now order groceries, find a date, or have dinner delivered via our phones. Telemedicine is empowering patients to take back control and to prioritize their health in an increasingly busy world.

If you’re nervous about the process of using telemedicine, the good news is that it’s a very easy thing to do. Firstly, you need to find a medical provider that works for you. Some telemedical doctors specialize in certain services, such as emotional support animals, handicap parking permits, or medical marijuana, so if you are in need of something specific, you can find it. However, there are also general practitioners who can become your regular check-up doctor in order for you to keep an eye on your health.

If you’ve got a smartphone, you can use telemedicine!

Firstly, you log on to the medical provider’s website and you’ll either be connected straight to a doctor or directed to a virtual waiting room. Once you are connected to a doctor, they will conduct your appointment through the camera function on your smartphone. If you have specific physical symptoms, you can use the camera to show them to the doctor and they can send you to a facility if you need further testing, but otherwise, it is just like an in-person appointment. You can be as open and honest as you need to be with your doctor. It’s just a different format.

If you need a prescription, they will usually send it to your pharmacy so that the medication will be ready and waiting for you. In addition, telemedicine providers usually operate with differing working hours, so that you can usually find an appointment outside of office hours. Telemedical appointments also usually cost less than traditional ones, as they often don’t incur the same operating costs associated with running a doctor’s clinic.

Keeping all of this in mind, there really is no reason that you shouldn’t start making more regular appointments to see a doctor. Log on, see what all the fuss is about, and change your life. Your body will thank you for it!

You may not have heard of it, although you may already be actively using telemedicine. The term describes a new phenomenon in the field of health care that’s currently making waves across America; it involves communicating with your doctor or health care professional via digital technology, such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, and numerous apps which offer face-to-face video such as Skype. In today’s instantaneous world, every kind of service is going on-demand. It’s undoubtedly the way of the future; we’ve already seen Netflix dominate traditional television (and even cinema to a degree), while WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have wiped the floor with standard text messages. Although it’s far more crucial than these two examples, why should health care be any different?

Telemedicine brings the power of on-demand health care to the widespread public. It wasn’t always this way, however. Originally, the program was initiated to help remote patients who could not easily see a doctor, and consultations were conducted by telephone. It started in the 1960s, and remained this way for many decades following, until the burst of digital technology revived the term. As we move through 2018, telemedicine is reshaping the face of health care as we know it, and all signs point to it continuing the trend in the years to come. The great thing about using telemedicine is that it’s separate to digital technology, but evolves along with it. Our society is only going to become further reliant on this technology, and telemedicine can adapt to fit the changing form of our world.

If you have a smartphone or other digital device, using telemedicine has never been easier.

In many ways, it’s already crucial to some patients’ wellbeing. Although the main purpose of using telemedicine is to link patients with their doctor, it has many other uses too. Medical staff are able to better monitor patients by having them upload statistics over the internet, giving staff a more realistic appraisal than they’d get via 20 minutes in a doctor’s office. Patients are also able to utilize sites like Moosh to avail of progressive treatments like emotional support animals, which tend to patients with mental disorders, giving them comfort and assurance through the constant presence of an animal. But largely, for most people, the exciting part about using telemedicine is that they’ll be able to visit their doctor online.

However, with that freedom comes a whole load of questions. For starters, will the doctors be as thorough via telecommunications as they would during a physical visit? And also, what kind of access will a patient have to their doctor if they’re using telemedicine? With regard the former question, studies show that there is no marked difference for most common illnesses when you visit your doctor in-person or online. If your doctor is able to see you via an app like Skype, he or she will be able to get a decent appraisal of your physical condition. On the other hand, if you’re confident in describing your symptoms to your doctor without visiting them in-person, then that’s another option. Alternatively, your doctor can keep track of you via an online profile, and you can upload new symptoms or changes in previous ones there; many telemedicine apps provide this service.

Telemedicine is giving people easier and more flexible access to their doctors.

In regard to what kind of access a patient has to their doctor via telemedicine, the answer is more or less unlimited. Previously, scheduling a doctor’s visit took a lot of hard work, and has to be made days or (best-case scenario) hours in advance. Usually, a clinical visit takes up at least half of a patient’s day, and possibly more if they live far away from the surgery. You could say that access to a doctor was limited before telemedicine fully arrived. The great thing about using telemedicine is that you’re able to communicate with a doctor outside of office hours – pretty much any time you wish to see one. There are numerous apps that provide a constant hotline to a whole range of medical professionals; if you’re worried about a development in your condition, or just want to run a symptom past a specialist in the area, all it takes is jumping online to avail of professional advice. Ultimately, the access you have to quality medical care via telemedicine is unprecedented; and as everyone knows, time can be of the essence when dealing with certain illnesses.

You might worry that this instantaneous access to doctors will cost more money than an in-person visit. In fact, the opposite is true. As well as saving you (and your doctor) time, you will also save money. A recent study of a telemedicine platform showed that using telemedicine saves patients in the region of $88 per visit, not to mention the savings on travel and parking. Taken together, it’s obvious that telemedicine represents a major shift in the health care industry, and something that will continue to progress in the coming years. Going online and on-demand has helped so many industries achieve great things, leading to a happier client base and sustained growth. The health care system, often criticized for its failure to meet burgeoning demand, is no different, and taking a giant leap into the online, on-demand world represents a fantastic opportunity for patients and staff alike.

Telemedicine (the digital diagnosis and treatment of patients) is revolutionizing medicine by linking patients and doctors while significantly reducing expenses for both parties. The efficacy of telemedicine has risen substantially in recent years thanks to developments in telecommunications. In such a fast-paced industry it can be difficult to keep up with its evolution, but we aim to ensure you stay on the bleeding edge of its advancements. Recently, the legalization of marijuana in numerous states has led telemedicine to offer patients an incredibly easy way to get medical marijuana.

Once upon a time, someone suffering from chronic illness such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, or Alzheimer’s could only find marijuana on the streets, and they’d be at risk of arrest just for possession. Now, anyone with an illness or disease that would be aided by the prescription of marijuana is legally free to obtain medical marijuana from many health practitioners around the country. This change in law provided people with access to government-regulated marijuana, where dosage and strains could be extremely accurately defined and prescribed, dependent on patient needs. It’s been a huge step forward for America, and a particularly huge step for medicine. Since the legalization of medical marijuana, the use of opioid painkillers and subsequent deaths from said painkillers has been significantly reduced.

However, a great many people suffering from chronic conditions are left so debilitated by their pain that traveling, or even leaving their houses, is out of the question. Until recently, an inability to get to the doctor would guarantee these people would not be prescribed medical marijuana. And so their pain would persist despite a known alleviator. Furthermore, there is still a climate of shame regarding the use of medical marijuana in some communities. This results in patients who are in dire need of a prescription forgoing one on the basis that they don’t want to be identified by someone they know going into a medical marijuana doctor’s office. They desire true anonymity.

Changes in the legalization of marijuana and the advent of telemedicine have gone hand in hand.

To further progress things, telemedicine has begun to allow medical marijuana prescriptions to be granted via telecommunications, including through websites such as MMJRecs. Subsequently, patients with chronic illness do not have to go through the pain or discomfort of traveling long distances to get medical marijuana. This is particularly important in states with a geographically dispersed population. But currently, not all states allow a medical marijuana prescription through telemedicine. Also, it must be noted that in order to benefit from telemedicine of any kind, you must be considered far enough from a doctor that traveling for an in-person visit would be difficult. Each state has its own ideas when it comes to telemedicine and the law, so it’s best to check your state’s legislation to figure out whether you qualify. A local doctor may also be of help in understanding the relevant state-level laws.

An established doctor-patient relationship is a requirement in medical marijuana treatment. States do not want doctors blindly providing patients with medical marijuana without first building up a detailed idea of their medical history and subsequently identifying a likely diagnosis that will be aided by the use of marijuana. Telemedicine allows medical practitioners to develop a relationship with patients who are incapacitated from the comfort of the patient’s home. With medical marijuana now legal to be prescribed via telemedicine, doctors are better able to serve their patients in a timely manner.

California’s medical board is certainly at the forefront of advancements in laws relevant to both medical marijuana and telemedicine, and they had this to say: “The initial examination for the condition for which marijuana is being recommended must be an appropriate prior examination and meet the standard of care. Telehealth, in compliance with Business and Professions Code section 2290.5, is a tool in the practice of medicine and does not change the standard of care.”

California is one state that has embraced the combination of legalized medical marijuana and telemedicine.

It may be surprising to some to learn that California is the only state where an explicitly positive policy regarding the use of telemedicine in conjunction with medical marijuana prescription has been laid out. This provides Californian doctors the ability to recommend medical marijuana via telemedicine without fear of losing their license to practice medicine or being sued.

So it’s clear to see that telemedicine is greatly impacted by the legalization of marijuana. With the legalization of marijuana, or any other drug, comes far more complexity in the laws and practice of telemedicine. As medical practitioners attempt to grapple with new laws and currently undefined ones in this relatively new and incredibly exciting area, there is likely to be some hesitance to go all in on telemedicine for fear of legal retribution. But as time goes on, the impressive efficacy and cost-effectiveness of telemedicine will ensure that the laws surrounding it will get properly defined, and that more and more health practitioners will feel comfortable exploring the myriad benefits this young form of medicine provides.

Telemedicine is on the increase. Over half of all U.S. hospitals are now using telemedicine in some form, and this figure is on the rise. More and more people – including professionals, patients, and medical insurance personnel – are seeing benefits from the development and increasing availability of telemedicine. As technology continues to advance, these benefits will become even more apparent and widespread. Let’s take a look at how telemedicine could benefit you.

We currently live in a mad, busy world, right? We want to live life to the full and we want immediate gratification. So when it comes to our health, we want that fixed as quickly as possible too! Convenience is a key word in today’s health care. If you want to consult with a physician sooner rather than later, or if you don’t want to – or can’t – take time off work, then consider how convenient it would be to access help virtually. This can be done by a simple phone call, via video or Skype, or with specific telemedicine apps. You chat to your doctor and they diagnose the problem and decide on treatment. If a prescription is required, this can be transmitted electronically to a drugstore of your choice. Hey presto, you’re on your way to getting better already! Rest assured that the doctor will call you in for an in-person consultation and/or examination if he feels that is necessary.

It’s not only convenient to operate in this way – it will also save you money. Money that you might need to spend on transport to and from the physician; money that you might lose in taking time off work; money that you might spend on pain relief or medication if you have to wait a few days for an in-person doctor’s appointment. We all like things that save us money!

For people who live in remote locations, traveling to the doctor can be difficult. That’s where telemedicine comes into play!

If you live in a remote area, or if you find traveling difficult or challenging for any reason (because you have reduced mobility, for example), the benefits of telemedicine are even more apparent. A virtual consultation clearly saves you time and transport costs. Time and money aren’t the only drawbacks here, though. Patients in remote and rural areas can often have trouble connecting with an appropriate specialist. Telemedicine allows your doctor to refer you to the right consultant for your specific needs, regardless of location. So in addition to saving time and money, you have the comfort of knowing you are being treated more speedily and by the best specialist for your particular problem. Remember that you will always be given a person-to-person appointment any time a physician deems this necessary.

Post-surgery care is another area where telemedicine could benefit you. Firstly, while you are still in hospital, your surgeon can receive information on your status at any time, regardless of where he or she is, and can then advise on any treatment or change of action that might be needed. Once home, health care providers can monitor you via video link and any concerns that you have can be voiced. Surgeons are supporting the increased use of telemedicine in surgical follow-ups. They know that good post-surgery care is vital to the successful recovery of patients and will make re-admission to hospital less likely.

If you’re one of the many U.S. citizens who suffer from a mental health illness, you will be aware of the difficulties in accessing help. Traveling on public transport, waiting in a room full of people to be seen by a doctor, or even the person-to-person consultation with your physician may all be particularly daunting for you. Telemedicine expands access to mental health services by allowing you to speak to a specialist via a video link, thereby avoiding situations that you may find challenging.

So many patients (including those with chronic conditions such as diabetes) can benefit from advances in telemedicine.

It’s widely accepted that telemedicine offers greater opportunity for patient-centered approaches – meaning that you, the patient, will benefit more from its application. Examples of this are firstly the fact that, as we’ve already noted, you can access help more quickly and conveniently. You will have a consultation and be offered treatment options right away. Any required medication can be collected quickly and conveniently, so your treatment begins immediately. If you are on a specific course of medication and need monitoring, or if, for example you have to take regular medication such as insulin, you can be remotely monitored to check that you’re taking the required amount of medicine or that you are following important instructions correctly. Information such as glucose readings can be viewed by your health care provider and any appropriate action taken. All of this not only helps your physical health but also your mental wellbeing. If you know that help is immediately at hand or that you are being constantly checked, you will be more at ease about your health. It’s a fact that telemedicine patients are less stressed and anxious and have far fewer admissions to hospital.

These are just some of the ways that the increasing use of telemedicine could benefit you. In conclusion, it’s also worth pointing out that telemedicine not only saves you money directly, but also in time, it will save you money indirectly. This is because we will see health insurance companies bringing down their premiums. Costs are being saved all the time in health care services with the introduction of telemedicine practices. Additionally, non-urgent ER visits are being reduced, as are hospital admissions and re-admissions and the length of hospital stays. Reduced health costs mean reduced health bills, which will ultimately mean a lower insurance premium for you.

We all know that going to see the doctor can be a major source of hassle; unfortunately, many of us put it off because it seems like such an ordeal. We all know that can be a serious mistake, but we’re all guilty of it at some point or another in our lives. If you live far away from your doctor, then this can compound the problem, making what should be a simple, routine trip into something far more time-consuming and stressful. Add in specialists to the mix, or a number of follow-up visits, and having something wrong with you can seriously drain your resources and time.

Telemedicine is here to change all that. Although it might sound like a new program, it’s actually a few decades old, though has been gaining traction recently due to the acceleration of digital technology. When it was first introduced, it was utilized to help patients who had no access to a doctor receive the medical support they needed. This was originally done via means of a telephone, hence the moniker “telemedicine.” For the next few decades, telemedicine remained an outlier service, which was useful in small amounts to a select group of people. In recent times, however, the technology has advanced to a point where telemedicine can benefit everyone in the healthcare system; in fact, the telemedicine revolution has already begun, and as digital technology develops further, the movement will continue to ascend.

Depending on your condition, your doctor might be able to view your results and make diagnoses using telemedicine.

So what are the main differences between online consultation vs. in-person consultation? Well, for starters, patients aren’t just limited to phones anymore. There are a large number of digital devices that can be utilized for telemedicinal practices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and PCs, as well as a huge number of telemedicine apps that aid and assist patients and doctors alike. As it stands in 2018, these all fall under the ever-expanding umbrella of “telemedicine.” The major concern most people would have is that if you’re doctor isn’t physically looking at you, how can you be sure he’s going to catch all the symptoms you might be presenting? You would essentially be relying on your own communication skills to explain your symptoms to the doctor, which might not be the best course of action.

In fact, research into online consultation vs. in-person consultation has shown that this is not the case. A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that for certain cases of routine, common illnesses such as flu and sinusitis, consulting with an online doctor could be just as effective as visiting one physically. In fact, some patients with routine conditions were able to get diagnoses from their healthcare physicians by simply updating their symptoms via their online profile. The only marked differentiation between online consultation vs. in-person consultation was a slight increase in the number of antibiotics prescribed via telemedicine. So the research proves that telemedicine is just as effective in the early stages of a condition, and if that condition proves to be a minor, common one, treatment can proceed in exactly the same beneficial manner as it would with a person-to-person doctor visit. The only variable is that both the patient, and the doctor, have saved a serious amount of time.

Telemedicine is revolutionizing the health care system, evening out the playing field between online consultation vs. in-person consultation with doctors.

It’s not just time that patients can save. A recent study in the widely-respected Health Affairs journal reviewed the effectiveness of a particular online clinic, examining over 40,000 cases, and came to the conclusion that this particular online clinic reduced patient’s costs by an average of $88, when compared to an in-person consultation. Furthermore, 98% of the patients said they would recommend the service to others. Telemedicine isn’t just about physical visits to doctors, however; many people use the service to purchase prescriptions or progressive medical treatments, which again saves them time and money. Patients can visit sites like MMJ Recs or Dr. Handicap to avail of medical marijuana identification cards and handicap parking permits respectively. These things matter a great deal in the lives of those who need them, so being able to access them through telemedicine is a real gift.

Ultimately, the goal of telemedicine is to provide a better form of healthcare to those who need it. The program results in fast diagnoses and increased supervision, costs the patients less money, and saves both patients and medical staff time, which is a valuable commodity in the face of a burgeoning healthcare system. Some people will initially be distrustful of not seeing their doctor in-person, but the studies show that an online consultation is no different from an in-person visit in terms of treating the most common illnesses. So the next time you feel phased about going to the doctor’s office, why not hop online and give telemedicine a try? In today’s instantaneous, digital-led world, it’s most definitely part of the future of healthcare; so jump on that train now to be ahead of the curve, and find yourself healthier as a result.

The biggest complaint that people seem to have about modern life is that it’s too busy and crazy. In today’s world, we are being pulled in so many different directions and it can be so difficult to find a moment to engage in self-care. With professional responsibilities becoming ever more present in all facets of our lives, and social media ensuring that are social lives are broadcast performances, it can be hard to take care of ourselves at a basic level. That’s where telemedicine can help.

Trying to find time to visit the doctor can prove impossible to do alongside working full-time. Most doctor’s clinics only open during office hours and they can be inflexible in accommodating working professionals. Similarly, not all jobs offer paid leave to attend medical appointments, so sometimes you may literally be asked to choose between money and health. However, there are many new advances in telemedicine ensuring that busy professionals are having their health care needs properly met.

Telemedicine is not a new phenomenon, but it is experiencing a new renaissance thanks to smartphone technology. Simply put, telemedicine is the delivery of health or diagnostic advice via the means of telecommunications technology. It has been used since the advent of the emergence of telecommunications technology, usually to serve people in war-torn remote places, but it is now far easier to access thanks to smartphones.

As a busy professional, you’re probably already using smartphone and tablet technology constantly – why not put it to use in your health care, too?

While it may seem odd to use your smartphone to access this kind of technology, it really couldn’t be easier. Firstly, depending on the service you pick, you can either make a formal appointment or drop in to a virtual waiting room. When it comes time to see a doctor, you will be connected via the camera on your smartphone. After this, it’s just the same as seeing a doctor in person. They will ask why you have come for an appointment, talk you through your symptoms, and ask you to move your camera to look at any physical symptoms, if you have any. Then they may order further tests or send a prescription to you. This all happens from anywhere that you happen to be. It couldn’t be easier.

As well as working around your busy schedule, telemedical doctors will make your life even easier by doing the hard work for you. If they feel that you need further tests, they will send a letter to you, detailing what needs to be done so that you can take it to a specialist. If you require a prescription, they can have it sent to your local pharmacy, so that your medication will be ready and waiting for you when you go to pick it up, saving you even more time. In today’s busy world, what could be better?

The key advantage of telemedicine is that its main purpose is to make the lives of its users easier. As well as the advantages listed above, telemedicine also empowers its users to take charge of their medical histories. Usually, it can be a tenuous and difficult process to access your medical records from a traditional doctor’s clinic. However, with telemedical providers, your records are stored centrally, in a way that they can be easily accessed by patients if needed. This also means that if you happen to see a different doctor, they can easily access your records to provide you with the best care possible in light of your medical history.

Using telemedicine instead of visiting a doctor in-person can save busy professionals so much valuable time.

If you commute a long way to work, have limited mobility, or live far away from your doctor, telemedicine can truly revolutionize your life. Instead of messing up your daily routine to grab ten minutes with a traditional doctor, wait until you get back to the comfort of your home to grab a consultation with a telemedical doctor. You don’t have to mess up your daily routine, and you won’t lose any of your precious leisure time by diverting yourself to the doctor’s office, even if you’re lucky enough to get an appointment outside of office hours.

The truth is that telemedicine is truly changing the lives of busy professionals. We live in a world where we have higher and higher expectations on us from work thanks to mobile technology, but this technology can also help us to make our lives more efficient. Why wait in a germy doctor’s waiting room when you can chat to a fully qualified doctor from the comfort and privacy of your own home? Why traipse from doctor’s office to pharmacy to wait to have a prescription filled when your telemedical doctor can make sure that your medication is ready and waiting for you when you get to the pharmacy? Take back your life and your personal time. The power is in your hands and on your phone!

Telemedicine is the treatment of patients through the use of telecommunications in situations where the health professional and the patient are not in the same area. As developments in telecommunication technologies have expanded the capabilities of telemedicine, the use of telemedicine has increased dramatically. And with the wide adoption of this form of health care comes a whole list of laws to consider, both as a medical practitioner and as a patient. So let’s take a look at what you need to know about telemedicine and the law.

As medical practitioners try to keep up with the constant stream of new laws and safely navigate the gray areas in this dynamic, shifting environment, there are some who will be hesitant to give telemedicine a chance for fear of accidentally overstepping legal boundaries. Equally, some patients are likely to be overwhelmed by the changes, and this may make them decide against telemedicine when it very well may be the best option available. However, with time, the undeniable effectiveness and cost-efficiency of this industry will guarantee that its laws accurately represent both doctors and patients. This will leave health practitioners feeling confident working with telemedicine to bring the vast number of benefits it provides to patients across the country.

Knowing your rights allows you to ensure you are kept safe, legally. With that in mind, we’ve created a list of 10 things you should know about telemedicine and the law.

1.  Telemedicine Doesn’t Include…

According to Health Care Law Today, telemedicine doesn’t include “audio only” phone calls, email, or fax correspondence. Images and videos must supplement any form of communication in order for it to be considered telemedical. medicare.gov confirms this.

It’s important to familiarize yourself with telemedicine and the law to ensure you’re being treated right as a patient, or treating your patients right as a medical practitioner.

2. Telemedicine Is Only Available If…

In order to qualify for telemedicine, you must be located within a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). As well as this, they must be seeking one of the following types of medical health facilities:

• A physician
• A hospital
• Community mental health center
• Rural health clinic
• Critical access hospital
• Skilled nursing facility
• Federally qualified health center
• Renal dialysis center

3. Telemedicine Isn’t a Substitute

Telemedicine does not overrule the need for bedside contact or a patient-doctor relationship; nor does it substitute standard medicine. It is supplemental and to be used in times where traditional medicine is not feasible.

4. Telemonitoring is Not Always the Way

Telemonitoring relates to the control of vital signals at a distance, through systems not dependent on any particular doctor and often portable by the patient. These systems send alarm signals to remote control centers. There are many scenarios in which telemonitoring should not be used. For example, if a patient has a disease, illness, or wound that which may require urgent care, then relying on telemonitoring may be considered malpractice.

In some cases, in-person treatments or observations are required by law in addition to (or instead of) telemedicine.

5. Telemedicine is Both a Health Care Service and an Information Service

This means that regulations regarding both types of service are applicable to telemedicine and both should be considered as a medical practitioner. For example, information services have their own laws regarding privacy of information.

6. Telemedicine is Still Young

As telemedicine is still in its early development stages, the laws surrounding it have yet to deal with all of the intricacies it brings. This means both patients and health practitioners may be unprotected in certain ways. It also means that already established laws may evolve or be entirely redefined.

7. The Laws In Each State Differ

As the approach taken to telemedicine and the law differs significantly from state to state. It is important not to confuse the telemedicine laws of one state with another. Both the doctor and the patient are expected to uphold the law of the state in which the patient currently resides.

Despite the fact that every state’s laws, regulations, and Medicaid program policies differ, there are certain ideas that are consistent throughout. For example, live video Medicaid reimbursement persistently exceeds reimbursement for remote patient monitoring and store-and-forward (the process by which information is sent and stored in a halfway station to be sent at a later time to the final destination).

So there you have it: the top seven things you should know about telemedicine and the law. Keeping them in mind, you’ll be better able to protect yourself, both as a patient and a health practitioner. As telemedicine is built on telecommunications, the constant and rapid advancement in telecommunication technologies means that the capabilities of telemedicine are developing at an astonishing rate. This is, of course, an incredibly positive thing. It will help improve the physical and mental health of many patients in rural, isolated areas, patients with limited mobility, and patients with anxiety disorders. At the same time, it will also help to reduce health care costs, which can, in turn, be used to fuel even better health care – a positive, upward cycle. However, it is important to realize that with such rapid developments, the laws surrounding telemedicine will likely also change rapidly. With that in mind, if you have any skin in the game, keep yourself informed and your information up-to-date.

The increased availability and popularity of telemedicine services across the United States is great news for many people and groups. It is a particularly good development for emotional support animal patients. Over the last few years telemedicine has truly revolutionized support for ESA owners, as well people who wish to become ESA owners. It is a very exciting time to be an emotional support animal patient!

Let’s talk about some of the ways in which telemedicine is making it easier than ever before to become an ESA owner and enjoy the wonderful benefits emotional support pet ownership brings.

Telemedicine refers to any type of medicine or medical consultation that is done remotely using modern communications technology. Communication between a health care professional and a patient via smartphone, tablet, laptop, or any other type of mobile device (usually using the internet) is called telemedicine. Super-fast broadband and highly powerful modern computer technology have made it easer than ever before for a patient and their health care provider (who can now be located anywhere in the entire country, or even abroad) to have fast, reliable, high-fidelity, and secure consultations.

Telemedicine brings a whole host of benefits to emotional support animal patients. For those of you who are still in the dark about this health care phenomenon, an ESA is an animal companion that provides company, friendship, love, and a calming influence to a patient who suffers from some form of mental illness. Many different psychological conditions qualify a person to become an emotional support animal owner. Depression, anxiety, PTSD, phobias (such as fear of flying), chronic stress, acute loneliness, or even suicidal thoughts are mental health conditions that qualify a person to become an emotional support pet owner. ESAs have special rights under American federal law. A certified ESA can live with its owner in rental accommodation that is otherwise “no pets allowed.” It can also travel with its owner in the cabin of a commercial airplane. In order to become an emotional support animal owner, a patient needs to get a letter from a registered mental health professional stating that the patient would benefit from owning an emotional support pet.

There are so many benefits to emotional support animals, and thanks to telemedicine, more and more people are able to experience these benefits.

An emotional support animal letter can be acquired by doing a consultation with a registered mental health practitioner, such as Moosh, online or over the phone. For many people, due to their specific life circumstances, getting their ESA letter via a telemedicine consultation is a much easier and better option than going through the time-consuming rigmarole of attending a practitioner’s office in-person.

Getting an emotional support animal letter after having a telemedicine consultation is much easier for the many ESA patients who live in remote parts of the country. For some people, getting to their nearest mental health practitioner requires a long journey by road or even by plane. From some very remote places, a journey to visit a health care provider in person could take an entire day or more. Telemedicine is a lifesaver for these patients.

Some ESA patients also suffer from mobility issues, either relating to their mental illness or not. Many people who suffer with PTSD are also amputees or otherwise long-term disabled. These folks, even with the use of a disabled parking permit, can often still find getting around pretty difficult. For these people, being able to do their ESA consultation over the phone or online is a godsend.

For people whose local mental health practitioner is very busy and has a long waiting list, it can also be a much quicker process to get their support pet consultation done using telemedicine.

Getting a certified support pet has never been easier than in today’s age of technology and telemedicine.

Some folks are just a little bit picky about who they want to discuss their mental health problems with. If they live in a small town in which “everybody knows everybody,” they may prefer the increased privacy and anonymity that comes with consulting with a mental health professional in a separate and distant area via telemedicine.

For a great many ESA patients, it’s really just a matter of saving time. In the modern world a lot of us have very busy schedules, and if we can get a telemedicine consultation – that would usually take a few hours in person – done in 20 minutes online, that is a huge help and a service well worth seeking.

It is also possible to have a consultation with a vet using telemedicine, and for pretty much all of the reasons we’ve just stated (distance issues, more choice, time saving), many ESA patients find it more convenient to use telemedicine for their emotional pet’s veterinary needs.

So it certainly is the case that telemedicine is revolutionizing support for ESA patients. In so many ways, telemedicine is making life much easier for ESA owners, and their pets!