If you’re hearing the word “telemedicine” everywhere and wondering where this trend has come from, you’re not alone. Thanks to smartphone technology, telemedicine is making a massive impact upon the health care landscape and is truly revolutionizing the lives of patients. As well as bringing medical expertise to the comfort of patients’ homes, it offers convenience and value, and empowers patients to be able to make better informed decisions in relation to their health care.

Telemedicine has been around for as long as telecommunications technology has been. It can be defined as the use of telecommunication and information technology to convey medical advice and health care. Radios have been used to convey health care throughout the twentieth century, particularly in war environments. In the current climate, smartphones are making it easier than ever for doctors and other medical professionals to provide health care to patients over the phone using video chat facilities to provide a quick and easy avenue to health care for all kinds of patients.

Accessing medical care from the comfort of your own home has never been easier thanks to technology and telemedicine.

So how does a telemedical appointment even work? It’s way easier than you think. Usually, you’ll either make an appointment or log onto a website to get an appointment. If your medical professional is not immediately available, you’ll go to a virtual waiting room, where you’ll hang out until they’re ready to see you. As the consultation begins, you will discuss your issue with whoever you’re seeing. They may ask you a number of questions about your symptoms and lifestyle as they would in a face-to-face consultation. They will use the camera feature on your phone to do a video chat to enable the consultation. They may ask to see physical symptoms and will advise you on the best way to recover. If you require further physical testing, such as blood tests or X-rays, they can write a referral letter; if you need a prescription, they can send it directly to your pharmacy, saving you time and hassle.

Why are patients choosing telemedical appointments instead of in-person ones? Convenience is a huge issue. In today’s busy society, many doctor’s offices have chosen to not offer flexibility to patients who may not be able to get an appointment outside of office hours. If you can attend a consultation from the comfort of your own couch instead of schlepping to a random doctor’s office, why wouldn’t you? This is also a massive advantage for patients who have limited mobility, who may find it much easier to combine busy lives alongside a disability by choosing to partake in medical advice via telemedicine.

Another reason that telemedicine is becoming increasingly popular is that it is usually cheaper than going to a traditional doctor’s appointment. Due to fewer overheads, telemedical companies can usually offer incredibly competitive rates for their patients which traditional doctors may struggle to match. Many telemedical doctors work from home and so they don’t have to combine office costs alongside other charges associated with running an office. People are becoming far more conscious of their money, so it’s a no-brainer to pick telemedicine in this case.

If you have a smartphone, tablet, or computer, you can utilize all the benefits of telemedicine!

It is also often easier to access your medical information if you are a patient who uses telemedicine. Your records will usually be kept in a centralized database that can be easily accessed by the patient at any time. In a traditional doctor’s office, your records are usually not easily accessed and you have to submit a request to view them or to have them sent to another establishment. With telemedicine, you are empowered to view your own information and to make decisions based off what is in your records.

While the advantages of telemedicine are clear, it is also important to do your homework to ensure that you see a medical professional who is fully qualified to practice. It is far easier to exercise quality control when you see a doctor in person, so you shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions about the telemedicine company that you might use. Any reputable organization will be more than happy to provide you with whatever information that you need to put your mind at rest, so be wary of anyone who seems wary or skittish about providing standard information in relation to qualifications and regulations. Professionals will want their patients to be comfortable and luckily, most companies will be more than happy to do whatever it takes.

While you may be currently questioning why this phenomenon is so popular, once you start using telemedicine, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start earlier. Its ethos is that it is totally centered around patient comfort, confidentiality, and convenience, so it’s no wonder that it’s so popular. As technology progresses, telemedicine will too – so get in on the ground floor and watch how it changes the way that you interact with your doctor forever!

Telemedicine has become extremely popular over the last few years. With the rise of mega-powerful smartphone and mobile device technology, more and more people are opting to save time (and money) by getting their health care needs met remotely, online, using telemedicine.

There is now a plethora of new telemedicine apps clamoring for attention, vying to meet the needs of this relatively new and rapidly expanding market. As a consumer who is new to telemedicine, the sheer volume of choices can be a little bit daunting. So to help you make sense of the deluge, here are five excellent free telemedicine apps that really should be on your phone.

MDLive

MDLive is a free app that offers its users “Virtual Care, Anywhere,” and it very much does what it says on the tin. MDLive is a one-stop-shop for telemedicine health care, offering 24/7 access to the largest network of fully certified telemedicine doctors, physicians, and specialists available anywhere in cyberspace. MDLive offers fully secure and private consultations with health care professionals on your schedule, any time of the day, night, week, or year. MDLive doctors treat an impressive array of medical conditions ranging from physical health problems such as allergies, ear/nose/throat issues, cough, flu, respiratory problems, UTIs, and vomiting, to mental health problems such as addictions, stress, depression, and panic disorders.

Using MDLive, you will usually be consulting with a physician within 15 minutes. MDLive physicians can prescribe drugs and have the prescription sent to your local pharmacy. MDLive is one of the more reputable free telemedicine apps that is easy, quick, and single-handedly covers a great deal of your telemedicine needs. Available from Google Play and iTunes.

With so many free telemedicine apps available, it’s never been easier to carry a doctor in your pocket.

Text4Baby

Text4Baby started life as an SMS service that sent helpful text messages to women who were either expecting or in the first year of motherhood. The texts answered their most pressing questions and helped them through the often difficult and confusing process of being a new mother. Now there is a Text4Baby app and it is the ideal accompaniment to the original message service. The app (which is run by the National Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies Coalition) is free to download and use and has helped almost one million women through their pregnancy and the crucial first year of motherhood. New moms always have a ton of questions and Text4Baby is a doctor-recommended app that answers literally any question an expectant mom could possibly think of in no time at all.

As well as answering questions, the Text4Baby app also provides reminders of upcoming appointments and meaningful dates, updates on how your baby is growing and developing, and quizzes so you can test and improve your baby knowledge. If you are pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant, Text4Baby is one of the free telemedicine apps that should take pride of place on your smartphone. Available from Google Play and iTunes.

MyFitnessPal

Prevention is always better than cure. With that in mind, MyFitnessPal is one of the most important free telemedicine apps on the market right now and should definitely be on the front page of your smartphone. MyFitnessPal is an invaluable tool in your health care toolbox as it allows you to keep track of how you are really living your life day to day.

How many calories are you taking in? What types of foods and drinks are you consuming? How much physical activity are you doing? All of these questions are of crucial importance for your overall health and fitness, and they are all meticulously tracked and monitored by MyFitnessPal. Using MyFitnessPal diligently will enable you to fine-tune your lifestyle for optimal health. Available from Google Play and iTunes.

Whether it’s fitness tracking, baby advice, or a medical consultation, there’s a telemedicine app for you.

LiveHealth Online

LiveHealth Online is a top-notch telemedicine app. It allows you to speak to a certified, US-based health care professional face to face any time of the day or night. Downloading the LiveHealth Online app to your smartphone or mobile device means you can consult with most types of health care professionals (including physicians, doctors, therapists, and dietitians) at any time with zero waiting and no appointment necessary.

Once you download the app and set up an account (both of which are free to do), you can have consultations via live video feed. Consultations typically cost $49 and are often covered by insurance (depending on your plan). If you require a medical prescription, the doctor you consulted with will send the information to your local pharmacy and you can pick it up there. Adding LiveHealth Online to your arsenal of apps could be a genuine life-saver! Available from Google Play and iTunes.

Amwell

Amwell is a similar app to MDLive and LiveHealth Online. The Healthline website voted it “Best Telemedicine App of 2016” and so, despite its similarity to other apps, it deserves a place on your smartphone (it’s always good to have options, especially when it comes to telemedicine). Amwell allows you to consult with a certified medical practitioner at a time that suits you, day or night.

Costs range from $45 for nutrition counseling, to $200 for an initial online psychiatry consultation, and are often covered by insurance. Amwell doctors can send a drug prescription to any pharmacy for collection. Amwell is one of the top free telemedicine apps, and really should be available on your smartphone for whenever you need it. Available from Google Play and iTunes.

Telemedicine had an unprecedented year in 2017 and is currently taking the country (and world) by storm. This surge in interest in the new health care trend has been unprecedented in recent times, and this looks set to continue into 2018 and beyond. Despite the current ascent of telemedicine, it is not in fact a new idea; telemedicine has been around for decades. But when it was first introduced, it was only applied in relation to telephone-aided health care, and was seen as an outlier practice, set up to help those people who had trouble getting to a doctor avail of the health care they required.

The lay of the land is quite different sixty-odd years later. Thanks to the rise of smartphones and the prevalence of digital technology everywhere we turn, telemedicine has been able to be incorporated in to the medicinal arena in ways that its inventors couldn’t conceive of, and is now becoming a major initiative in the ever-changing field of health care. Commodities like Netflix and WhatsApp have gotten us used to having things on demand – an instantaneous delivery of the things we want to engage with. Telemedicine operates no differently, and can, in one sense, be thought of as “medicine on demand.”

Doctors everywhere are using telemedicine for the benefit of both themselves and their patients.

This is of course not the only application of telemedicine, but it fits right in with the way the world operates in 2018, and constitutes a large part of why telemedicine is becoming so popular with patients (or potential patients). It gives people access to the health care they require when and where they need it; it also gives doctors more time in the day to attend to more patients, and recommend specialists from anywhere in the country, not just one that happens to be nearby their patient.

Going to a doctor’s office is hassle (and a little intimidating) for most people, but for some people, it’s downright impossible. The primary aim of telemedicine when it was established in the 1950s is still as applicable as ever today, despite the technological advancements. Patients who need to see a doctor but live in remote areas or are physically incapacitated can avail of health care via their smartphones or tablets, without needing to leave their house. They can also be referred to specialists for their specific condition and confer with these specialists without needing to leave their house. Instead of a telephone call, the patients can actually consult with their doctor to “face-to-face” via Skype or FaceTime, leading to better communication between doctor and patient, diagnosis, and treatment.

But telemedicine is not just about doctors and specialists having consultations with incapacitated patients; it is also a new channel for people to be prescribed and avail of medicine, without having to go and physically obtain a prescription. Take the new wave of medical marijuana legalization laws currently sweeping the U.S. MMJ is now legal in 29 states and counting in various forms, and patients can apply for their medicine over the internet, by seeking a certified medical marijuana identification card from reputed sites like MMJ Recs. By providing an online source for increasingly common medicine like medical marijuana, telemedicine is helping to take the heat of the health care system, allowing doctors to see more of the patients they need to consult in person.

Medical data can be transmitted easily via telemedicine, changing the way doctors, patients and specialists interact for the better.

Doctors are also better able to monitor their patients through telemedicine and allow patients to better monitor themselves. It is common practice for doctors to want to keep an eye on heart activity in older patients, yet they could previously only do this sporadically, when the patient came to see them. Through telemedicine, patients are able to send their doctor through any relevant information, or even upload data to the cloud in real time, allowing their medical team to get a broad perspective on their condition, and see if there’s immediate need for further action. Essentially, across many different conditions, the transfer of information is much quicker when it comes to telemedicine, which can only be a good thing when it comes to treating patients.

Ultimately, the practice of telemedicine is slowly revolutionizing the face of health care, and as it becomes more widespread and prevalent, it will surely be the go-to method of consulting your doctor for myriad reasons. On top of all the instantaneous benefits, it also saves the health system and patients money by cutting out administration costs for the former, and axing any travel expenditure for the latter. It also saves both parties time, which is an important factor when dealing with a constantly overworked health care system and diminished resources. When it comes to medical matters, time is the most precious commodity of all; the main benefit of telemedicine is that it saves time, and in the process, might just save more lives. Telemedicine is undoubtedly the future; but it is also the now.

Thanks to the telecommunication and information technologies that have been at the forefront of 20th century technological advancement, telemedicine has become an incredibly effective solution to distance barriers, providing people in isolated, rural areas with access to medical services. Communications between patients and medical staff now take place with expedience and high fidelity, and this leads to faster diagnosis and resolution for patients. More recently, with the rapid technological advancement and ubiquity of smartphones (it is estimated that there are around 2.1 billion smartphone users in the world), telemedicine has managed to advance at even more rapid rates. Outlined below are some of the most mind-boggling ways smartphones have facilitated the progress of telemedicine.

Mobile Apps

There is a vast array of health apps currently available for smartphones – many of which are free. Anyone with a smartphone can use apps to monitor sleep patterns, track their weight, use two-way video calls to communicate with medical staff, get medication reminders, and even connect with online support groups.

Remote Monitoring

Some of these telemedicine apps can track and report a patient’s health information to their healthcare provider, so that detailed analysis and diagnosis can be drawn. As smartphones are always at hand, data collected this way tends to be far more accurate than both patients making estimations and medical practitioners tracking for short periods.

Remote monitoring, or self-monitoring, allows medical professionals to monitor a patient remotely using a plethora of technological devices, including smartphones. This is applicable in managing chronic diseases or conditions, such as heart disease or diabetes. Remote monitoring often provides similar health outcomes to more conventional, in-person patient encounters, supplies greater satisfaction to patients, takes less time, and tends to be far more cost-effective for both the patient and the medical practitioner.

Medical imaging and telemedicine have paired well together, particularly for stroke patients.

Medical Imaging – Stroke Patients

In 2012, medical images taken on smartphones to evaluate stroke patients in remote locations through telemedicine were proven to be effective. This allows patients to access expert help in a timely fashion when they need it most. If required, patients can be prescribed medications within a short timeframe to proactively minimize serious injury to the brain.

Medical images sent via smartphones have also led to significant cost reductions by making ground or air ambulance transfer of the patient to another medical center unnecessary.

Wound Management

Telemedicine for wound management is conveniently done using a smartphone’s high-quality video camera in conjunction with electronic medical records (to exchange medical information). After receiving wound images, a plan of care is developed that best ensures the patient’s full and speedy recovery. Subsequently, products that will benefit recovery are ordered and delivered. This is all done from the convenience of the patient’s home.

Wound management is particularly interesting because it provides a level of care that often cannot be done in person. Follow-ups on post-surgical visits are far more frequent and continued care for chronic wounds are much more extensive. Furthermore, it means less pain for patients, as they don’t have to travel long distances for care.

Tele-ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the branch of science concerned with the study and treatment of diseases and disorders of the human eye. Tele-ophthalmology attempts to digitalize as much of the ophthalmological care as possible and effective. Electronic ophthalmologic records of the patients often include the capturing of images by smartphones. Smartphone cameras are now advanced enough to be able to capture both anterior and posterior segments of the eye to be evaluated by ophthalmologists.

Tele-ophthalmology is another advancement that’s been made largely due to smartphone technology.

Only if patients require further evaluations will they be referred to experts in the relevant field. Tele-ophthalmology, in conjunction with smartphones, is able to treat diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and retinopathy of prematurity. These are the most common causes of blindness, but smartphones are helping ophthalmologists deal more effectively with these diseases on a mass scale, helping many isolated people get the help they need before it’s too late.

A large number of studies have shown that clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction levels of tele-ophthalmology are similar to the conventional eye care system, while also providing cost-effectiveness.

Tele-dentistry

The tele-dentistry industry has shown the ability to detect occlusal caries (decay on contacting surfaces of teeth) from photographs taken by smartphone cameras with comparable diagnostic results when compared to traditional screening. As tooth decay is linked to many dangerous diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and even dementia, this is an important development for many patients.

With the rapid advancement of smartphone technology, telemedicine has become an incredibly exciting space to watch, and one that provides incredible benefit to the many people who would be very poorly served in its absence. But there is clearly lots more work to be done to bridge the gap between medicine and telemedicine, and the power of smartphones will have a large part to play in bridging that gap.

Telemedicine is currently changing the face of health care across the United States. It started off as a niche service designed to help patients in remote areas receive the care they need. These days, telemedicine is being talked about as the next big initiative in health care. It still retains the basic function of assisting patients in remote areas, but due to its on-demand nature and instantaneous service capabilities, people all across the country (and planet) are seeing its plentiful benefits and advantages. It still utilizes telephones to a degree, but has received a huge thrust due to the rise of digital technologies. These devices form the cornerstone of our modern society, affecting every industry; health care is proving to be no different, with the introduction of things like specialized telemedicine apps.

Any communication with a doctor through a smartphone, laptop, desktop computer, or tablet can be classified as telemedicine. Telemedicine has many benefits, including savings of money and time to both patients and doctor, improved patient monitoring, better implemented resources, instant prescriptions from sites like MMJ Recs and Moosh, access to more personalized care, and the capacity to speak with your doctor instantly, at any time. All these benefits are making telemedicine an increasingly attractive prospect to many people, not just those living in remote areas. When we go on vacation, health care is a primary concern. The idea of being stranded in a foreign country after being stricken down by disease or illness is a sobering one, which is why many people take out travel insurance. But even then, what if you’re in a completely unknown location where no one speaks English and you need to consult with a doctor?

It’s reassuring to know you can always access medical care through telemedicine apps when you’re away from home.

Luckily, telemedicine can help you there too. There are many telemedicine apps out there designed to aid people when they’re out and about, and you don’t even have to be in a foreign country, either; if you’re vacationing at home in the States and are out camping somewhere remote, these apps can help you avail of medical care in an instant if you get yourself into trouble. So if you’re planning a vacation somewhere far-flung sometime soon, consider downloading these telemedicine apps to feel completely at ease health-wise while you’re having fun on your break.

1. Doctor on Demand

Doctor on Demand does exactly what it says on the tin: it’s a doctor on demand service that lets you see a certified doctor for a video consultation service. The doctor can then write you a prescription (not always necessary if you happen to be abroad at the time), advise you on treatments plans, or respond to non-emergency medical issues. They’re also handy to consult before you go away, as they can refill existing prescriptions or prescribe new medications for your journey and travel. The app utilizes over 1,400 state-licensed physicians from all across the U.S. It’s free, but prices for consultations start at $40 for 25 minutes and $70 for 50 minutes.

2. HealthTap

HealthTap is one of the handiest telemedicine apps around – a virtual doctor’s office that lets you consult with a medical professional and get your questions answered. It’s up to you to choose the best option for the health care you need. Asking questions on the app is free, and it can be a great source of information if you’ve got any niggling worries about a symptom or condition, especially as these kind of worries can intensify when you’re abroad. Live consultations cost $44, so this app is a little more expensive than Doctor on Demand; however, the plus side is that you can invite your own doctors to join HealthTap, and therefore continue to avail of a professional you trust, even when you’re abroad.

Traveling? No problem! There are plenty of virtual ways to obtain medical advice now that telemedicine is advancing in the U.S.

3. Microsoft Health Vault

Microsoft Health Vault is a free online service where you can keep your health and medical records safe and to hand if and when you need them quickly. You can then share them with health care professionals from the app. This is a huge benefit when going on vacation, as you might just find yourself in a situation where you medical records are needed, because you’re dealing with a foreign doctor or team who have never treated you before. All the key data relating to your health can be inputted and kept secure, either manually or via upload from other telemedicinal devices.

4. Text4Baby

Traveling abroad when you’re pregnant can be quite an intimidating proposition, but sometimes it just can’t be avoided. Luckily, mothers-to-be and brand new mothers can avail of one of the most useful telemedicine apps around, Text4Baby, to ease any and all fears they might have. The service is run by the National Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies Coalition, and uses good ol’-fashioned text messages so that one size fits all when it comes to phone type. Users remain anonymous; all you need to input is your due date and your ZIP code. You can then avail of a stream of informative, reassuring text messages that are sent in relation to your due date. This handy service is free, and it also doesn’t cost anything to receive the messages. If you’re afraid you’re going to miss something while you’re abroad with your new baby or pregnant, Text4Baby can help allay your fears.

Telemedicine continues to make waves and to make the news. Many diverse groups have an interest in telemedicine, sometimes for very different reasons. For you, the consumer, the interest is obvious. How is telemedicine advancing and how is telemedicine relevant to you? Let’s take a look at some of the recent happenings in the world of telemedicine.

President Trump, while not always everyone’s favorite, seems to have come up “trumps” with his latest directive in helping to combat America’s growing opioid problem. He has effectively directed the HHS (Health & Human Services) to remove the embargo on prescribing controlled substances via telemedicine for patients with an opioid addiction. These substances include anti-addiction medicines such as naloxone. Three groups of patients will actually benefit from this important administrative change: those with addictions, children suffering from ADHD, and veterans with PTSD. These patients are all generally treated with a wide spectrum of controlled substances which, prior to this change in the law, were not able to be prescribed by telemedicine. Responding to the directive, the American Telemedicine Association’s President, Dr. Peter Yellowlees, observed: “Allowing physicians to prescribe controlled substances by telemedicine to treat patients with addictions, using medication assisted treatments, is a very positive move and one that will certainly help more patients to access high quality treatment.”

Remote management of chronic conditions is set to improve with increased access to telemedicine.

The Senate also recently passed the CHRONIC (Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care) Act. Designed to improve the health outcome for Medicare patients with chronic conditions, the bill includes many provisions for Medicare to broaden its usage of telemedicine and gives Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) more discretion in the use of telemedicine. Examples of these provisions include expanding the coverage of the remote diagnosis of a suspected stroke, and extending the geographical area where kidney dialysis patients can see their physician via a video call. A new provision is the Remote Patient Monitoring, which will particularly help older citizens suffering from chronic diseases. Medicare beneficiaries with one or more chronic conditions will have the choice to opt for monitoring at home, alongside their usual regular physician or specialist check-up. Another example of advances in telemedicine – this time aiding those who find any form of travel challenging.

The number of people benefiting from Medicare is expected to grow by 50% over the next 15 years. When you add in the fact that life expectancy will also increase, there will clearly be a growing demand for the monitoring and management of chronic illnesses. The more this can be achieved remotely, the less pressure there will be on an already over-burdened system. Sabrina Smith, interim Chief Executive Officer of the ATA, observed: “This is an important step in what ATA hopes will lead to additional federal action on telemedicine. We stand with those are committed to creating an accessible, responsive, and modern healthcare system.”

Medicare was again in the news recently when the CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) released some new payment rules. As of the start of 2018, CMS will support all clinicians who provide remote monitoring tools – which include smart devices and wearables that can be used in the home – and who use patient-originated health data for the purposes of care management and co-ordination. Qualifying activities include sending medication reminders, collecting, monitoring, and reviewing patient physiological data and patient education. The initiative has been praised by the Connected Health Initiative (CHI). Executive Director, Morgan Reed, commented: “These new rules are an important step forward for America’s connected health innovators, doctors, and, most importantly, patients. CHI pushed for newly enacted rules that finally level the playing field for innovators, giving doctors and patients the chance to take advantage of the best technologies available.”

Veterans are some of the people benefiting from advances in telemedicine.

Elsewhere in recent telemedicine news, the House Committee on Veterans Affairs passed a bill that will allow veterans to be treated via telehealth no matter where they live. It’s part of a two-pronged effort to promote telemedicine services to veterans, particularly in rural areas. In a recent survey, almost 90% of veterans currently availing of telemedicine benefits said they were happy with the service they were getting. As the number of vets using telemedicine increases, so the number of hospital admissions decreases.

Early November saw a plea raised by a coalition of healthcare providers, schools, libraries, and health centers in relation to broadband expansion. The group is requesting that the House committee boosts the Federal Communication Commission’s Rural Health Care (RHC) program, which is aimed at helping non-profit healthcare providers to access high-quality broadband connections in rural areas. They want the fund increased from $400 million annually to $800 million. Calling it a “life or death issue for rural America,” John Windhausen Jr., executive director of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, stated in his letter to the House Energy & Commerce Committee: “Rural communities that encounter a severe shortage of doctors, aging populations, and a greater distance to medical experts are in dire need of easily accessible telemedicine services. The RHC program has the power to elevate the health of these communities, but only if the program is revamped to promote rural broadband.”

These are just some of the important issues surrounding telemedicine that are making waves at the moment. Talking about telemedicine and keeping it in the news will benefit us all in the long-term and, ideally, in the short-term too.

Modern technology has revolutionized our lives. With the advent of smartphones, we have access to a range of services in our pockets. Hungry? Order takeout via an app. Need your brows fixed or a quick mani/pedi? There’s definitely an app for that. We track our steps, monitor our diets, and interact with friends via the little machine in our handbags, but did you know that there’s a way to take mobile health care to the next step? Telemedicine is the next new frontier in health care.

While it’s been around for over a hundred years, telemedicine is having a contemporary renaissance thanks to mobile technology. Simply put, telemedicine is the diagnosing and treating of patients via telecommunications technology. It is empowering patients around the globe to seek excellent health care at a fraction of the cost and at far more convenience to them.

How can one access telemedicine? Luckily for patients, there are several options available. It is possible to sign up with certain services to avail of unlimited health care at a flat monthly fee. Other services charge per appointment but it is up to each patient to pick the option that works best for them. The best thing about telemedicine is that it is easy and convenient. Traditional doctors may often only see patients during office hours, which means that it can be difficult to schedule an appointment if you work a busy and demanding job. With telemedicine, you will be able to see a doctor as and when it suits you.

Most people have a smartphone these days – which means most people can benefit from the convenience of telemedicine!

While it may seem unorthodox, the process of a telemedical appointment is actually very simple. Depending on the service you choose, you will either make a pre-set appointment at a time that works best for you or hang out in a virtual waiting room until a doctor is ready to see you. When you’re both ready, you’ll begin a video or audio consultation where you’ll speak openly with your doctor about your issue, just as you would with an in-person doctor. Depending on the issue at hand, you will either finish your consultation with professional advice or you can ask your doctor to fax or email a prescription to the pharmacy of your choice. No muss, no fuss, and everything is taken care of for you.

A benefit of telemedicine is that it is usually cheaper than traditional doctor’s visits. Increasingly, many insurance companies are also covering telemedical appointments, but this will depend on the specific plan that you have. In addition, if you are infirm, it is far easier to access a doctor via telemedicine than to leave the house, risking further injury, or to pay an extra fee for a doctor to visit your home.

One of the main ways that telemedicine is currently being used is for the female contraceptive pill. The nature of the contraceptive pill requires women to undergo a simple blood pressure check when they need their prescription renewed after six months. However, with telemedicine, this arduous process no longer exists. Women can fill out a simple survey online and then visit their pharmacist for the blood pressure check and then get their contraception.

Your pharmacist and telemedical professional can work together to make health care easier for you.

Another use of telemedicine comes in the form of counseling and therapy. While going to see a psychologist is necessary for many people in today’s stressful world, it is inaccessible to many due to the financial strain. However, there are now apps and websites that offer remote psychotherapy via phone calls, video chats, and instant messaging at reduced rates so that patients can access treatment as and when they need it. In this way, telemedicine is changing lives and making things far easier and convenient for patients.

The best thing to do if you’re thinking of beginning a journey on telemedicine is to pick a service that will allow you to keep all your medical records in one place. While you won’t always be able to see the same doctor, a centralized records system means that no matter which doctor you see, they will always have the correct information on hand from your past consultations to be able to offer you the best advice possible.

It may seem like telemedicine is a weird way to access medicine, but it truly is the way of the future. Why wouldn’t you pick an option that affords you flexibility and costs less? Telemedicine puts the power in the hands of the patient and removes the high cost of appointments and high stress that many patients face while visiting a traditional doctor’s clinic. The best thing to do is try it for yourself and see how it goes. You’ll be pleasantly surprised, with more money in your pocket and another app to add to your phone’s collection. What’s not to love?

Telemedicine – and in particular, telemedicine apps – is currently a hot topic in the field of smartphones. Digital technology has allowed this once-outlier treatment plan to enter the mainstream, and it’s growing exponentially month to month. People all over the U.S. are benefitting from digital access to clinical consultations with their doctors; the telemedicine movement is bringing equal opportunity health care to all areas of the county, including those rural regions which were previously neglected or didn’t have convenient access to primary care physicians or specialists.

Much of the telemedicine revolution has been spearheaded by the continuing development of the smartphone, which has gone from strength to strength in the last decade. Much of our lives are now channeled through our phones, specifically apps, and telemedicine is no different. Telemedicine apps are key to changing the health care landscape for all Americans, providing cheaper and better quality access to treatments and medicine. But there are a lot of apps out there; the name of the game when it comes to app development is competition, and the health care sector is no different. With that in mind, here’s a rundown of five telemedicine apps that you definitely need on your phone!

MDLIVE

MDLIVE is the perfect example of smartphone telemedicine in action. It provides a 24-hour communication line to doctors, which means you can avail of instantaneous medical advice; you can connect with a doctor in about fifteen minutes or less. You can seek treatment for all types of conditions, from physical afflictions to mental disabilities. Wherever you are in the world, as long as you have your phone with you, you’re able to get certified medical advice in no time at all.

If you have a smartphone – and who doesn’t these days? – all the benefits of telemedicine are available to you.

PingMD

While MDLIVE is perfect for broad medical advice on a range of subjects, PingMD is perfect for firing off concerns to your doctor and keeping a medical record of your chronic conditions. You can send text, pictures, or videos to your doctor, who then respond directly or forward your concern onto a colleague or someone else who’s informed in their network. Every “ping” you send to your doctor is logged in your digital medical record, which makes it extremely easy for medical staff to check up on your specific condition to date, and see if it’s something that can be handled over telemedicine communications, or if you need to come in for a visit. Also, PingMD is free for patients, and currently has over 10,000 doctors availing of its service on the other side of the table.

HelloMD

HelloMD‘s focus isn’t on immediate care; instead it endeavors to find you the perfect specialist for your specific condition. It’s the perfect app for tracking down the ideal specialist for your extremely specific condition, or one that requires a niche point of view. Although HelloMD isn’t an instantaneous as some other telemedicine services, it’s usually possible to get an appointment within 24 hours. This appointment can also be facilitated through telemedicine, which speaks to one of the major positives of the service; access to some of the best specialists the country has to offer, without the usual wait times or travel issues. Appointments with specialists are notoriously slow to set up, but with telemedicine, it can be a timely, painless process. You can also utilise HelloMD for second opinions from previous appointments. The app itself is free, but doctors will set their own rates, dependent on their consultation. You can hook your credit card up to it and pay via that for each meeting.

With so many useful telemedicine apps available, the face of health care in the U.S. is being revolutionized for the better.

HealthTap

HealthTap is the perfect app to answer any confounding questions you might have about a very specific problem. It’s an app that gives you access to a database of over 50,000 doctors and dentists from across the world for peer-checked responses for a whole variety of medical queries. Google searching symptoms is never a good idea, as the overload of information available online can lead to added stress and anxiety; very few of the opinions out there on the internet are informed, and uninformed diagnoses can be very dangerous indeed. Googling your symptoms will become a thing of the past with HealthTap. You can have a whole wealth of certified knowledge at your fingertips, 24 hours a day.

Pillpack

Telemedicine is excellent for prescribing online medication. Sites like MMJ Recs and Moosh are able to prescribe therapeutic, progressive new medicine like medical marijuana and emotional support animals over the internet with little or no hassle to the patient. Pillpack does the same thing; it’s a prescription-by-mail service that puts your medication into time and date-stamped packs that tell you the order in which you should take them. It also aligns with your health care provider to ensure your prescriptions are automatically renewed a month before your prescription runs out. The only additional charge to the usual price of medication is the shipping fee.

You may not have heard of the term “telemedicine” before, but there’s a chance you might already be actively involved in it. Essentially, telemedicine describes the use of telecommunication and digital technology to provide clinical health care from a distance, i.e. not a regular face-to-face clinical visit that people are traditionally used to when they go and see a doctor. It started as a fringe service in the late 1960s and was first introduced in Massachusetts General Hospital by Kenneth Bird, originally to solve the patient backlog of employees and travelers at Logan International Airport, which was located three congested miles away from MGH. This primitive version of telemedicine incorporated a two-way audio-visual microwave circuit and treated over 1,000 patients.

These days, telemedicine is an entirely different ballgame. The advent of digital technology has spurred the movement on over the last ten years, and as it stands in 2018, we are on the cusp of telemedicine becoming a major factor in the vast and crowded arena of health care. From audio-visual microwaves, the format of communication switched to telephones, the first system of which was operational in 1989, and then finally digital communications, which include smartphones, tablets, laptops, and any other device that utilizes digital technology.

Digital communications technology has advanced medicine in more ways than many can imagine.

For most people, the word “telemedicine” might sound intimidating or foreign; the question soon becomes “How does it affect me?” In truth, the question you should be asking yourself is “How does it benefit me?”, as telemedicine comes complete with a whole range of advantages for patients and doctors alike. The main benefit is unchanged from the initial need to introduce the concept into the health care system: remote treatments. This doesn’t mean a literal treatment by remote control (though we might get there someday) – it means giving medical professionals the means to treat patients who are far away from them. These include patients who live in rural areas, where a trip to the doctor’s office is a mammoth operation, or those who are physically or mentally incapacitated, and because of the status of their condition, can’t leave the house.

This is of great benefit to both doctors and the patients that they treat. Patients can get seen to without wasting their entire day, while doctors can consult with more patients during the day than they normally would if they were seeing them in person. Another benefit of telemedicine is a wider access to specialists; previously, people who lived in remote areas were referred to whichever specialist happened to be close to them, whether they had a good reputation or not. Telemedicine gives patents the freedom to select a specialist who suits them best, whether they live in the countryside or the city. It puts more power in the hands of the patients, who often communally complain of being disenfranchised with the U.S. health care system.

Another advantage of telemedicine is the ability to avail of certain medications or services online. If you’re handicapped and can’t physically leave the house without specific provisions, then you can avail of benefits like a handicap parking permit from Dr. Handicap from the comfort of your own home. This removes the catch-22 situation of having to drive somewhere to pick up the permit in the first place. Another increasing trend in the health care system is the use of medical marijuana to treat all manner of diseases and conditions. If you live in one of the 29 states that has legalized medical marijuana, then through a site like MMJ Recs, you can easily be prescribed a medical marijuana identification card, which will legally allow you to avail of the medicine at local dispensaries.

There are so many benefits to telemedicine, both for patients and medical professionals.

Telemedicine also allows doctors to keep track of patients remotely and have the results of certain tests uploaded to them digitally. This removes the need for patients to stay in hospitals overnight for certain exams, freeing up hospital space for more intensive patients, and also allows doctors to get far more accurate results than they might if they were simply consulting with the patient for fifteen minutes. But despite all these advantages, the single biggest benefit of telemedicine for those in the modern age is the fact that it is immediate. Every single service or industry in our world is moving towards an on-demand system; we’ve seen Netflix practically extinguish traditional television format, and WhatsApp and other social messengers lay waste to old school telephone calls.

Telemedicine is aiming to do the same thing with traditional health care methods. Doing so will take more time and a more revolutionized approach than other industries, as the intricacies of health care are more nuanced. But the end result will be a better service and treatment for everyone involved, on both sides of the line. Taxpayers’ and patients’ money will be saved and better spent, while the quality of treatment will continue to increase as telemedicine becomes more prevalent. All in all, telemedicine will affect you, the potential patient, positively across the whole health care spectrum; it’s time to embrace the future!

Telemedicine might seem like a relatively recent phenomenon in health care, but in actual fact, the idea has been around since the 1950s. Back in those days, of course, digital technology didn’t exist; the only mode that existed for housebound or rural patients to access continued health care resources was the telephone, hence the name. When it was first introduced, telemedicine was regarded as a fringe service for the next few decades, albeit one with huge benefits for patients living in remote areas. However, in 2018, telemedicine is being regarded as the next progressive enhancement to sweep through the American health care system.

The reason of this is all down to digital technology. Telemedicine, though it retains the analog name, is no longer an archaic technology benefitting only a few remote patients. With the advent and continued prevalence of the smartphone, it’s becoming so much more than that, and experts forecast that the telemedicine revolution will grow exponentially in 2018 and beyond. It’s no longer just beneficial to patients who have trouble getting to their doctor, either; while it still remains that, it’s so much more simultaneously. Telemedicine is making health care cheaper and faster for everyone involved, including patients, doctors, and specialists. The former can see a medical professional on their own terms, when and where they need to, while the latter can get through more patients in a day and provide better quality care for less cost.

Patients can experience many benefits from telemedicine, and it can help doctors do their job more efficiently too.

So which areas of health care actually use telemedicine? A better way to phrase the question might be, which areas of health care don’t use telemedicine? The prevalence of smartphones and digital technology means that many areas of the expansive network that is the American health care system can benefit from the positives of telemedicine, regardless of whether they adopted telemedicine before. Here are a few of the areas that are receiving major boosts from telemedicine.

1. Mental health

According to statistics, a quarter of adults will battle a mental disorder of some type or another during their life, yet only fifty percent of these people will seek treatment. The reason for these low figures has a lot to do with the stigma surrounding mental health, and how some people who suffer from it spend their time in denial without ever actually acknowledging their issue. Mental illness is also more prevalent in isolated areas, which makes it harder for people to seek out proper care. Another barrier is the cost of mental health treatment, which usually involves a committed treatment program that some potential patients might be scared of committing to for whatever reason.

Telemedicine provides a remedy to many of these barriers, with the practice already having a successful track record in the mental health field over the last twenty years. As telemedicine becomes more widespread, mental health care is set to benefit even further, with the potential to be completely revolutionized by the nationwide adoption of telemedicine. Patients in remote areas will have the constant access to specialists that they require, while sufferers who feel shame and anxiety about stepping foot in a real-life doctor’s office can be eased into treatment from the comfort and security of their own home.

Getting medication and treatments has been made a lot easier for some people through the advent of telemedicine.

2. Prescription services

Going to retrieve a prescription has always been a bit of a drag for most people, but for some, it’s a relative impossibility. Those who are disabled or housebound can’t always make it to a doctor to receive the prescriptions they need. Telemedicine makes it possible for any patient to easily avail of their required prescriptions, as well as making the whole process easier for everyone who takes medication. All you need to do in most cases is download a relative app that you use to keep in touch with your doctor or order your medicine, or alternatively you can order up your prescription from the internet.

“And when talking about “prescriptions,” don’t just think pills, either; prescriptions come in all shapes and sizes, and cover many different varieties of illnesses or conditions. Telemedicine can help with all of them. If you require medical marijuana, you can sign up for an MMJ card at MMJ Recs. If you suffer from a mental condition and think you’d benefit from an emotional support animal, you can get yourself verified at Moosh. Or if you’re disabled or handicapped in any way, and unable to reach a doctor, you can retrieve a disabled parking permit at Dr Handicap.

3. Specialists

Everyone knows that for any condition causing serious worry, your family doctor is merely a gateway to a specialist. Previously, if you lived in a rural or remote area, you’d have to be referred to the nearest specialist to your local area, who might not always be your preferred choice, or even the best option for your condition. With telemedicine, you can choose from a wide range of specialists and not get tied down to one just because they’re convenient. Telemedicine also reduces waiting times, which were previously inordinate, and helps patients see the specialist they require and want in much shorter order.