Many areas of medicine are continuing to improve with the advent of telemedicine practices. A growing number of people are able to consult with specialists remotely, have their medical conditions (both chronic and acute) diagnosed and treated, and have better overall health care because of these advances. As technology affects and transforms the health care industry, it’s likely we’ll continue to see additional telemedicine services being offered for a variety of medical issues. In recent years, teletherapy has been used to help treat individuals who need speech therapy. Here’s a look at how these online options can be just as useful as in-person visits.

Speech therapy is the evaluation and treatment of people who are having issues with speech, language, cognitive function, or problems that affect their learning, memory, or problem-solving skills. There are also swallowing disorders that can be treated with speech therapy. Adults can develop speech issues after a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or concussion, or because of neurological diseases like Parkinson’s disease, ALS, or multiple sclerosis. Although adults can be in need of treatment, it’s more likely that people hear about speech therapy for children.

There are several speech disorders children experience that can benefit from speech therapy, including articulation disorders (difficulties producing sounds or saying words incorrectly), fluency disorders (stuttering, partial-word repetitions, or prolonged sounds), and resonance or voice disorders (problems with pitch, volume, or quality of voice that can cause pain or discomfort for the child). There are also specific language disorders, such as receptive disorders (difficulty understanding or processing language), expressive disorders (difficulty putting words together or limited vocabulary), and cognitive-communication disorders (difficulty with communication skills like memory, perception, and regulation) that can occur in childhood. Children can also need speech therapy because of hearing impairments, developmental delays, weak oral muscles, birth defects, autism, and respiratory problems.

With online speech therapy options now more widely available, children and families all over the U.S. are seeing the benefits.

A speech therapist, or speech-language pathologist (SLP), is educated in the study of human communication, its development, and its disorders. They typically hold a master’s degree and state certification or license, along with a certificate of clinical competency from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). They use different strategies to help eliminate or alleviate a person’s symptoms. With children, these methods can include language intervention activities, which have the therapist interact with the child by playing and talking and using repetition exercises to build language skills. There is also articulation therapy, where the therapist models correct sounds for the child during specific play activities. Oral-motor/feeding and swallowing therapy can also be beneficial for some patients. Therapists can build on each step of progress the child makes and create new goals as they continue on with the speech therapy sessions.

The use of online speech therapy has continued to grow for a number of reasons. First, it can be challenging for some families to find qualified speech therapists near them – especially if they live in a rural area. Access to high-quality therapy can be essential for patients who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access help. Second, using these teletherapy methods means that it can sometimes be more affordable for the patient. Some school districts in the U.S. offer speech therapy to their students, but many districts don’t have the resources to provide complete, comprehensive care. However, they might have more funds to provide online speech therapy, since this can be a cheaper option. Additionally, if parents can’t afford in-person therapy sessions, they might find that online therapy can be more affordable.

There are other benefits to using telemedicine measures for speech therapy. Using online video conferences can mean that families have much more convenient options for treatment. Sessions can be scheduled when it’s most convenient for the parents and child. For busy working parents, families who use online therapy services also don’t have to worry about finding transportation for their children for in-person visits. Therefore, scheduling and completing sessions can be a less stressful experience for the whole family.

There are numerous benefits to using telemedicine for speech therapy, especially for children.

There also can be something of a stigma attached to therapy. For some kids, going to a speech therapist for help with a stutter or speech impediment can make them feel different to or singled out from other kids in their class. They can miss important classwork and time spent in the classroom, which can make them feel separate from their friends or cause them to fall behind in their schoolwork. Online speech therapy can mean that the child can get the same help outside of school hours without setting themselves apart from their classmates or taking them away from valuable class time. This can end up boosting their confidence and overall self-esteem.

Online speech therapy can also be more therapeutically beneficial. Oftentimes, students who meet with a school therapist do so infrequently. Much of the progress gained during a session can be lost from week to week (or during longer periods of time). Teletherapy video conferences mean a student can have more consistent treatment and possibly more frequent sessions to enhance the treatment and boost odds of improvement. Telemedicine can actually be a more advantageous option than traditional in-person methods if more persistent treatment is available to the patient.

Not only can online speech therapy be just as effective as in-person visits, it can also actually have even further benefits. Treatment can be more affordable, more convenient, and more progressive, resulting in children (and adults) facing a greater chance of seeing their symptoms improve or disappear altogether. With these noticeable advantages, it’s no wonder telemedicine measures are continuing to grow across the country.

For millennia, patients have had to accept whatever treatment a medical professional happened to foist upon them. Whether the medical professional happened to be a witch doctor in the Amazon or a scalpel-wielding Victorian physician eager to perform a frontal lobotomy, patients had little choice but to follow the doctor’s orders. Throughout history, there was very much an ‘us and them’ divide between doctors and patients. Doctors knew it all, patients knew nothing. This was very empowering for doctors, but disempowering for patients.

Telemedicine has leveled the playing field. Thanks to telemedicine, patients now have much more choice and involvement in their treatment. Telemedicine is empowering patients by giving them massively increased choice, and also opening up a world of potential learning and education that was previously closed off to them. Patients can now take charge of their own treatment and make choices for themselves with the help of doctors, medical professionals, and telemedicine apps.

Obviously, most patients are not fully qualified to make decisions about their medical treatment completely independently, but the fact that telemedicine has empowered patients by giving them far more choice, and far better sources of information than ever before, is surely a good thing.

Here are 6 ways in which telemedicine is empowering patients.

Telemedicine Gives Patients More Control Over Their Money

Telemedicine has many money-saving benefits. It allows patients to choose from a far larger pool of potential health care providers, enabling them to find the most cost-effective treatment. It also does away with the need to take a lot of time off work to travel to lengthy in-person consultations. The money that patients save by using telemedicine is hugely empowering. Having more money to pay off debt, increase savings, or buy goods and services that they desire or need is very empowering for patients.

Saving money (and time) is one of the biggest benefits of telemedicine.

Telemedicine Allows Patients More Choice of Who They Consult With

In days gone by, patients had to consult with whatever medical professional happened to be based nearest to their location. This often meant that patients had to make do with subpar doctors or facilities. It also meant that patients sometimes had to be treated by doctors they did not warm to. This lack of choice of who patients could deal with was very disempowering. Telemedicine has empowered patients by giving them a much better choice of which medical professionals they can be treated by.

Telemedicine Makes it Possible For Patients to Live in Remote Locations

Before telemedicine, many patients had no choice but to live in locations that were near to medical facilities, but otherwise unappealing. Many people had to live in big, overcrowded cities just to be near hospitals and medical facilities. Telemedicine has freed patients up big-time in this regard. Patients can now choose to live in much more remote locations far away from the nearest hospital or surgery. Having the ability to live in a peaceful wilderness or small, friendly village, while using telemedicine to meet their medical needs, is very empowering for patients.

Telemedicine Gives Patients More Choice Between Different Treatments

There are many ways to skin a cat. Exciting new medical treatments are being developed all the time that can meet the needs of patients much better than older, traditional treatments. Before the age of telemedicine, exciting new treatments were often unavailable to patients whose doctor was not up-to-date with the newest research. Telemedicine has empowered patients by enabling them to choose doctors in distant locations that offer groundbreaking new treatment options.

Want to travel the world, but still access health care? Enter telemedicine!

Telemedicine Gives Patients the Freedom to Travel the World

The ability to up sticks and travel the world is certainly very empowering. Telemedicine enables patients to do just that by giving them the option to consult with their physician or health care provider remotely, from anywhere in the world. Thanks to telemedicine, even people with chronic health conditions can explore the world safe in the knowledge that, should they need to, they can contact their doctor from any location. This is hugely empowering.

Telemedicine Gives Patients Their Time Back

Time is the most valuable resource there is. Traditional medicine often robs people of their precious time by requiring them to make long journeys to hospitals or surgeries and to wait for interminable hours in waiting rooms and ERs. Telemedicine empowers people by giving them far more control over their time. It allows patients to choose much less time-consuming methods of treatment, and therefore save plenty of hours with which they can do as they please.

Traditional medicine has a lot of side effects that are harmful to the environment. Telemedicine, on the other hand, makes the world a smaller and more efficient place, and this has a very positive effect on the environment.

Traditional medicine demands a lot of energy, mainly in the form of electricity. Traditional medicine requires large buildings and substantial physical infrastructure; it often necessitates that long journeys be made by road, rail, air, or sea; and it generates huge amounts of waste. The need to receive traditional medical treatment makes it essential for many people to live in large urban centers that cause great pollution to the environment.

Telemedicine has the potential to solve all of these harmful side effects of traditional medicine (at least to some extent). It makes travel less necessary; it reduces energy consumption; it decreases the need for large bricks-and-mortar facilities; it saves people time and money that can be dedicated to environmental projects. In all of these ways, telemedicine is much better for the environment than traditional medicine.

Here are 6 ways telemedicine can improve the environment.

Telemedicine Reduces the Need For Bricks-and-Mortar Medical Facilities

Physical infrastructure – such as hospitals, surgeries, roads, shops, cafes, and restaurants – is required to make traditional medicine work. All of this physical infrastructure takes up space, uses a vast amount of energy, and produces a ton of waste. Hospitals are often built on green-belt land. These giant structures often devour parkland and destroy ecosystems. Telemedicine makes a lot of this physical infrastructure unnecessary. Using telemedicine, people can consult with a doctor or any other type of medical professional remotely from the comfort of their own home. This makes physical infrastructure less necessary and therefore improves the environment.

The less need for physical infrastructure, the more room for green spaces full of life!

Telemedicine Means Hospitals and Surgeries Can Be Smaller

Not only is infrastructure less necessary, but the infrastructure that already exists is now being scaled back thanks to telemedicine. Buildings that were once needed for traditional medicine are being freed up and can now be used for housing and other purposes. This reduces the need to build new houses on green-belt land. This scaling back of infrastructure and recycling of buildings is very good for the environment.

Telemedicine Reduces the Need For Travel

Being able to consult with a medical professional anywhere in the country (or even the world) from the comfort of your own home makes traveling much less essential. Telemedicine hugely reduces the need to journey by road, rail, or plane to visit a doctor in person. Using traditional medicine, patients often have to make a long car journey to see their local physician. A lot of patients need to travel by air to see a specialist when their condition requires it. Travel by road and plane is very bad for the environment. Telemedicine improves the environment by reducing the amount that patients need to travel to receive medical treatment.

Telemedicine Enables People To Choose More Eco-Friendly Treatments

Telemedicine gives patients far more choice. Thanks to this increased choice patients can now select from a wider range of possible medical treatments. Some treatments are more eco-friendly than others. For example, many people are choosing to use medical marijuana, grown organically on sustainable facilities, instead of synthetic drugs concocted in huge chemical-spewing pharmaceutical plants. Telemedicine allows people to improve the environment by choosing eco-friendly treatments.

Accessing eco-friendly treatments through telemedicine, like medical marijuana, has a positive impact on the environment.

Telemedicine Allows People to Live in Eco-Friendly Locations

The fact that people can get their medical treatment needs met remotely using telemedicine means that they can now, more than ever before, choose to live in remote locations. Cities are often clogged and dirty places that do great damage to the environment. Spewing sewage, traffic fumes, and household waste, modern cities put great pressure on the planet’s ecosystem. The more these cities can be decongested, the better. Living in less crowded, more eco-friendly locations can have a very positive impact on the environment. It is easier to live sustainably in smaller rural locations. Telemedicine makes it possible to live outside of cities by making it easy to consult with medical professionals from any location, no matter how remote.

Telemedicine Saves Time and Money… Which Can Be Dedicated to Environmental Causes

Telemedicine saves patients a ton of time and money. These invaluable resources can be used to improve the environment in numerous ways. Money can be invested in green projects like solar and wind power, and time can be invested in community clean-ups, building green homes and buildings, joining environmentalist movements, and volunteering on green projects. When telemedicine saves people time and money that they then dedicate to green projects, telemedicine is having a very positive impact on the environment.

Sickle cell anemia is a condition that affects more than 200,000 people in the United States every year. The treatment requires many patients to see their doctor on a monthly basis, which can be difficult for people living in rural areas or without direct access to specialized medical care. However, with an increase in telemedicine technology, more patients are able to receive effective treatment remotely. They can get the help they need without having to set foot in a doctor’s office. Here’s a look at how sickle cell patients can use telemedicine to improve their care.

Sickle cell anemia is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders where there is a problem with a person’s hemoglobin (the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen through the body). Hemoglobin cells are normally disc-shaped, but with sickle cell, the hemoglobin forms into stiff rods within the cells that change the shape to a sickle shape. They are not flexible and can’t change shape easily, resulting in many of them bursting apart as they move through the blood vessels. Normally, healthy cells last between 90 and 120 days. However, patients with sickle cell anemia have cells that only last 10 to 20 days. The body experiences difficulty in making enough new cells, causing a lack of red blood cells.

Sickle cell anemia is caused by a defective gene and can be diagnosed with a blood test. In the U.S., most patients are African American, although some people with Hispanic, Southern European, Middle Eastern, or Asian Indian backgrounds can have the diagnosis too. Currently, about one in every 13 African American infants is born with the sickle cell trait, while about one in every 365 African American children is born with the full sickle cell disease.

There are many benefits to telemedicine, including improved treatment options for sickle cell anemia patients.

If people have sickle cell disease, there are usually symptoms present during the first year after being born (typically around five months old). Some symptoms include painful swelling of the hands and feet, fatigue, fussiness, and jaundice. The severity of these symptoms can differ from person to person and can vary over time. Patients with sickle cell anemia often experience pain crises. This is when the sickle cells stick to the vessel walls, creating a blockage that slows or stops the flow of blood. Oxygen then can’t reach the tissues. This lack of oxygen can cause sudden and severe pain with no warning. These crises usually result in the patient seeking treatment at a hospital. Complications from the disease can also present as anemia, organ damage, and infections.

As of now, the only cure for sickle cell anemia is bone marrow or stem cell transplantation. These transplants can be extremely risky procedures and can have serious side effects, so they’re usually only used in severe cases with children. There are some treatments that can help alleviate symptoms and lessen complications. These include antibiotics to prevent infections, pain relievers for acute or chronic pain, and blood transfusions to help with severe anemia. Many patients take the medication hydroxyurea, which increases the amount of fetal hemoglobin in the blood, resulting in a reduction in sickle cell complications. Although there are great strides being made for improved treatment options, the average life expectancy for sickle cell patients is between 40 and 60 years old.

There are some ways that sickle cell patients can see hope, and one aspect of that is through the increased use of telemedicine in treatment regimens. A great example of this is in Georgia through a program at Augusta University. This program utilizes telemedicine and video chats between doctor and patient to help make treatment more accessible, convenient, and affordable. The first appointment is made in person so the patient can get a full medical workup, then the follow-up meetings can be done remotely. Dr. Betty Pace is a big part of this program, and she has seen over 250 patients with sickle cell disease via video conference during the last two and a half years of the program.

A program at Augusta University utilizes telemedicine and video chats between doctor and patient to help improve sickle cell treatment.

“Access to care is so important, not just with sickle cell disease, but for any [wellness] visits and preventative medicine,” Dr. Pace said in an interview with a local news channel. “The possibilities are endless of how we can use telemedicine.” She continued by saying that the patients in the program are eager to use this mode of treatment. “We asked them would they prefer the telemedicine to something else and pretty much hands down, they say yes.”

All of the video conference appointments consist of a camera, Internet connection, and Bluetooth devices. Dr. Pace explained, “We can do nose and throat exams. We can listen to the lungs with a Bluetooth stethoscope. We listen to the heart sounds and then we have a nice monitor where we can look at skin rashes.” Even though they’re conducted remotely, these exams can be as thorough and as effective as an in-person visit.

Plus, there are many benefits to the telemedicine method. Patients can schedule appointments at more convenient times and don’t have to worry about transportation to a doctor’s office (especially if they live in rural areas). Additionally, costs can be more affordable since patients won’t have to factor in office fees to their visit. There are also no wait times, which can be a frustrating aspect of visiting in-person clinics. Telemedicine can allow for instant care for sickle cell patients who need to be monitored closely or who might be in the middle of a pain crisis. By offering more convenient and accessible care, these patients can receive treatment no matter where they live or how far they are from sickle cell anemia specialists.

It’s likely that the use of telemedicine in treating sickle cell patients will continue to grow as more medical professionals see the success of the programs like the one at Augusta University. Video conferences will probably become one of the main tools that doctors use to communicate with their patients in the future. And most importantly, sickle cell patients will get the care they need to manage their symptoms and lead healthy and full lives.

Telemedicine is changing the lives of people in numerous positive ways. Many different segments of society are benefiting from using telemedicine in place of more traditional forms of medicine.

One group that is benefiting particularly well is senior citizens. On average, older people tend to require more medical treatment than younger people. So older people can benefit from using telemedicine in particularly profound and life-changing ways.

Here are eight ways telemedicine can improve the lives of senior citizens.

Telemedicine Allows Senior Citizens to Consult From Home

Using telemedicine, a senior citizen can consult with a medical professional of their choice from the comfort of their own home. Being able to perform many consultations from home using telemedicine means that senior citizens have less need to travel to doctors’ surgeries and hospitals. Being able to have their medical consultations done from home can seriously improve the lives of senior citizens.

Telemedicine Gives Senior Citizens More Choice

Telemedicine opens up a whole universe of choice to senior citizens. Whereas before, when using traditional medicine, a senior citizen’s choice would be limited to the small selection of medical professionals that happen to operate in their area, now they can choose to consult with doctors and medical specialists that are based in any location, within the United States or beyond. This vastly increased level of choice is a big improvement in the lives of senior citizens.

Telemedicine offers so many benefits for seniors, including increased choice and the ability to save time and money.

Telemedicine Saves Senior Citizens Time

Most senior citizens are retired after having done many decades of hard work. Senior citizens’ time is precious and they want to enjoy their hard-earned retirement years as much as possible. Telemedicine is a huge time-saver. This means that senior citizens can spend more time enjoying life and doing things they want to do.

Telemedicine Saves Senior Citizens Money

Living on a finite pension often requires being frugal. Money can be tight for senior citizens, and medical bills can seriously eat into a person’s pension pot. Telemedicine gives senior citizens the option to shop around and find the best value medical care available. This ability to save money can be a huge improvement in the life of a senior citizen.

Telemedicine Encourages Senior Citizens to Become More Tech-Savvy

Technology is improving at an exponential rate. People who don’t manage to keep up-to-date with modern technology can be left behind and miss out on the awesome benefits that it brings. Senior citizens often find it more difficult to keep up-to-date with modern tech because they have been doing things ‘the old way’ for so long. Telemedicine can be the impetus older people need to learn about modern tech. In order for a senior citizen to enjoy the time-saving and money-saving benefits of telemedicine, they need to have a working knowledge of the internet, smartphones, and tablets. The knowledge they gain can then be translated into other areas. Using telemedicine can be an excellent learning experience for senior citizens.

Engaging with technology through using telemedicine services is a great benefit for senior citizens.

Telemedicine Means Senior Citizens Can Spend Less Time in Doctors’ Waiting Rooms and ERs

Doctors’ waiting rooms and hospital emergency rooms tend to be populated by various germs and viruses. An enclosed space full of sick people is not a healthy or fun place to hang out. Senior citizens are often more susceptible to these germs and viruses than younger people due to their weaker immune systems. Older people can often leave a doctor’s waiting room sicker than when they arrived. Telemedicine means that for many conditions, a senior citizen can avoid spending any time at all in a doctor’s waiting room or hospital ER, and this can vastly improve their health and quality of life.

Telemedicine Is Great For Senior Citizens With Mobility Issues

Senior citizens tend to suffer from mobility issues more than any other segment of the population. Medical conditions that hamper mobility such as arthritis are more common among senior citizens. Telemedicine makes it possible for senior citizens with mobility issues to travel less and to get their medical consultations done from the comfort of their own home. 

Telemedicine Allows Senior Citizens to Explore the World

After long decades of being stuck in one location due to career, work, and family commitments, many senior citizens would love to travel and explore the world. Telemedicine allows senior citizens to get their medical needs met remotely. This means that they can finally fulfil their dreams of seeing exotic regions of the country or world. Telemedicine allows senior citizens to be much more location-independent, and this can mean a huge improvement in their lives.

With levels of private debt in the United States sitting at worryingly high levels, people need to save money now more than ever. Americans need to budget, and many need to tighten their belts. Many economic forecasters predict that with increased longevity and low savings rates, there may be a pension crisis looming. Millions of people may be heading towards an old age in which their pension pots will not support a comfortable lifestyle. A lot of Americans could end up having to do paid work far beyond traditional retirement age, and perhaps even until they die. In this climate, money-saving has to be a priority. Medical bills are a particularly huge drain on the finances of millions of Americans – but fortunately, the benefits of telemedicine have arrived on the scene, and just in the nick of time!

Telemedicine is often a much cheaper treatment option than traditional medicine. Using telemedicine, a patient can save big bucks by choosing the best value medical treatment from a much larger pool of options. Telemedicine can also save people money on transport and travel, as well as allowing them to not take unnecessary time off work. Telemedicine has come to the rescue of many financially hard-up Americans who need all the money-saving help they can get.

Here are five money-saving benefits of telemedicine.

Telemedicine Provides More Choice

The more options a consumer has, the better price they are almost certain to get for a service. Telemedicine provides patients with much more choice than ever before. Patients can now choose medical professionals in different localities, cities, and even countries. One of the biggest benefits of telemedicine is that it allows patients to shop around and find the best possible value. The fact that customers can consult with doctors anywhere in the world is forcing medical professionals, in general, to be more competitive with their pricing. Telemedicine gives patients much more choice, and this increased choice can provide massive money-saving benefits.

When you have to make every penny count, having the option to use telemedicine services can be a real life-saver.

Telemedicine Decreases Travel Expenses

Traveling to and from medical consultations can cost a lot of money. People often need to consult with specialist doctors that are located far away – in different towns, cities, or even states. Traveling to and from an in-person medical consultation costs money, either in gas and vehicle maintenance or in public transport costs. Often a person will need to fly for a number of hours to get to the location where a specialist is located. That’s where another of the benefits of telemedicine comes in: it allows patients to consult with medical professionals in any location remotely using telecommunications technology. Being able to consult with a doctor from the comfort of your own home is much more economical and saves a lot of money in travel expenses.

Telemedicine Means Less Time Off Work

Visiting a medical professional in-person is a time-consuming undertaking. When travel times and queuing at the surgery are taken into account, a visit to a medical professional can take many hours, and sometimes even a whole day. When an in-person consultation takes this long it often means that the patient needs to take time off work, even if their medical condition does not actually necessitate any time off. This time off work often means a loss of earnings. One of the greatest benefits of telemedicine is that it allows people to save a lot of time by consulting with a medical professional remotely. This means it also saves people money by making it less necessary for them to take forced time off work.

There are so many benefits of telemedicine services, not least the greatly reduced expenses that can help you save money on your health care.

Telemedicine Breaks Up Expensive Local Monopolies

Telemedicine opens up the market. In times gone by, many localities were served by only one or a small few medical practitioners. This meant that the more unscrupulous doctors could charge higher fees because their patients had no choice but to pay them. Patients in small towns were often at the mercy of a monopoly, duopoly, or cabal. Telemedicine has made this type of unfortunate situation all but impossible. Telemedicine gives patients such a wide range of choice that they can easily take their business elsewhere if their local doctor is charging too much. This means that, in practice, no local doctor can afford to charge too much. By breaking up local monopolies, telemedicine has saved a lot of people a lot of money.

Telemedicine Is Getting Cheaper All the Time

Not only does telemedicine allow for all of the aforementioned money-saving opportunities, but it also is getting cheaper and cheaper in and of itself. Modern technological devices are getting cheaper as the technology becomes more advanced and easier to mass-produce. Smartphones and tablets are cheaper now than ever before. There are myriad high-quality telemedicine apps vying for the public’s attention, and this fierce competition drives prices lower and lower. The technology space in general, and the telemedicine space in particular, are highly competitive. Some of the best and brightest minds on Earth are working hard to develop the most cost-effective and best value technologies and apps. This is wonderful news for the consumer. Telemedicine is getting cheaper all the time, and this rapid progress brings excellent money-saving benefits to patients.

An increasing number of college students are in need of help with their mental health. Around 12% of college students in the U.S. have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Additionally, as many as 7–9% of students suffer from depression. These numbers mean that a significant amount of students will need to reach out for support during their college years. However, college counseling centers are notoriously understaffed. There are often long wait times to be seen, inexperienced mental health professionals, and a limited amount of help that can be offered. But there might be a solution to help these overcrowded and underfunded centers: teletherapy.

Teletherapy is quickly becoming a popular option for students looking for support with their mental health. With access to mental health professionals 24/7 and typically less expensive fees, teletherapy can be a great alternative to a traditional college counseling center. Some college organizations are paving the way by providing these telemedicine options versus offering in-person visits. For example, the national sorority, Sigma Kappa, has recently partnered with Talkspace, a well-known online therapy service. The service has also already partnered with two fraternities, Alpha Tau Omega and Delta Tau Delta.

The stresses and pressures of college can contribute to students’ mental health problems.

These organizations offer their members free access to Talkspace for three months. After that time, students can decide if they’d like to continue using the service and can pay for it on their own (although some insurance plans might still cover this type of therapy). Typical plans through Talkspace usually cost about $59 a week. These plans include video, audio, and text messaging communications with a licensed therapist, along with a monthly 30-minute live-chat session. Because in-person therapy can be costly (even with insurance coverage), students will pay way less than the standard fees of $75–$150 an hour for a session.

In a statement from Sigma Kappa, the organization wrote, “The collaboration brings a modern and student-friendly mental health solution to Sigma Kappa members across the nation as a new term starts, and in a time when anxiety and depression levels are on the rise among college students.”

Because suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, it is necessary that collegiate organizations start to provide better support to students that are struggling. Symptoms of depression and anxiety can be worsened by the many pressures of college life – everything from demanding classes and playing on a competitive sports team to conflict in relationships and the temptation of alcohol or drug use. It’s imperative that students have access to the health care they need to function and thrive in college. Without this vital help, students’ symptoms can worsen, even leading to them dropping out of school.

Through teletherapy, many students are finding it easier and cheaper to access mental health care.

According to the American Psychological Association, access to counseling helps around 65% of students who used a counseling center to stay in school. But the structures in place now to help students are most likely not doing nearly enough. College counseling centers are notoriously underfunded, and there usually aren’t enough available mental health providers to meet with all of the students that need attention. And the need for students to get help is only increasing as the years go by. In fact, one study noted that in the past several years, there’s been a 30% increase in students needing mental health services. For example, one organization, the International Association of Counseling Services, recommends no more than 1,000 to 1,500 students per college counselor, when in reality, campuses typically have one counselor for every 1,737 students.

Talkspace, or other similar teletherapy services, can be significantly helpful to students. First off, there is still some stigma in our country when people are suffering from a mental illness. It can be incredibly intimidating to reach out and ask for help. Many people are concerned that their friends or family might think badly about them if they knew they were struggling. With teletherapy options, a student doesn’t even need to step foot in the counseling center. They can access a therapist from the comfort of their dorm room or home – without worrying about what other people will think about them. This can mean that more students can get help instead of staying silent in their suffering.

Second, students who are living on a tight budget can seek help for a low fee without having to worry about what will be covered by their student health care plan or their insurance. The flat fees provided by these services takes out all the guesswork of how much they’ll actually get charged for each session. Plus, services like Talkspace mean that students don’t have to stress about fitting in-person visits into their busy schedules of classes and work. These teletherapy options are much more convenient because the therapist and patient can communicate only when it’s manageable for the both of them.

One of the best aspects of using teletherapy for college students is that the counseling centers will be more available for students who are currently experiencing crisis situations. The centers will have more staff to deal with these type of emergency cases, and teletherapy options can provide aid for students who aren’t in life-threatening situations. Hopefully, as colleges begin to see the benefits of using teletherapy measures, they’ll start to provide their students with more access to mental health care services, resulting in more help for a greater number of students.

Telehealth services are increasingly being offered throughout the United States. These services are working to provide improved health care for all Americans. Video health care, or telehealth measures, give people immediate access to medical professionals who can effectively diagnose and treat injuries and illnesses. A growing number of drugstore clinics have also gotten into the telehealth game recently, driving the telemedicine trend even further.

CVS Health recently announced that they will be introducing internet access for their MinuteClinic treatment facilities in many states. Although these clinics in CVS drugstore locations can be more convenient than going to a doctor’s office, they can still have wait times of several hours during peak times. So, CVS has found a solution. They’ll also be offering the ability for patients to gain access to medical professionals (like nurse practitioners and physician assistants) 24/7 from their mobile devices. All they’ll have to do is log on through the CVS Pharmacy app (available for both iPhone and Android users) to get treated.

Each patient has to complete a health questionnaire indicating their medical history and current issue; then they’re matched to a board-certified health care provider that’s licensed in their state. The provider goes over the questionnaire and conducts a video-enabled visit to assess the patient’s condition and come up with an appropriate treatment plan. Providers can even prescribe medications through this service (and they don’t have to be filled at CVS pharmacies). They can also make referrals if they determine that an in-person doctor’s visit would be better for that particular case. These video visits typically last about 15 minutes. That means it’s a quick and easy doctor’s visit conducted right from your phone, without you ever having to leave the house!

CVS has introduced internet access for their MinuteClinic treatment facilities in many states.

There are tons of benefits to interacting with a medical professional in a MinuteClinic or straight through the app – the main one being that patients can now get care whenever and wherever they need it. When they’re seen by a doctor doesn’t depend on how many other patients need to be treated, so they’re able to get immediate care. Patients who live in rural or remote areas can also have more access to treatment without having to worry about transportation to a facility. Increased access means there’s a more even distribution of care for people throughout the country.

Another great benefit is that these clinics and video chats are much cheaper than an in-person doctor’s office or emergency room visit. In fact, using the MinuteClinic online service costs just $59 with a credit or debit card. Some reports say that an average ER visit typically costs around $2,000, which represents a huge amount of savings. Currently, insurance isn’t taken by CVS for telehealth visits, but the company is working on getting insurance coverage in the future. This service can also be extremely helpful for those individuals without health insurance, since everything can be paid for out-of-pocket. Plus, with a set flat rate, patients can’t be nickel and dimed with added costs. This, in turn, will help make health care more affordable and accessible for people at any income level.

There aren’t many restrictions on who can use the telehealth services, either. As long as the patient is two years old and up, they can use these telehealth options for a variety of minor injuries and illnesses including:

• Seasonal allergies
• Colds and coughs
• Earaches
• Flu
• Sinus infections
• Sore throats
• Upset stomachs
• Women’s services (like UTIs)
• Minor injuries

Since patients can be treated for these types of conditions (among others), it means that there will be reduced wait times in emergency rooms and urgent care clinics. Individuals with non-life-threatening issues can be treated with video visits, so patients with more serious problems will be able to see a doctor more quickly. In fact, the American Medical Association and Wellness Council of America states that more than 75% of doctor, urgent care, and emergency room visits can be handled through a video chat.

More and more drugstores across the U.S. are getting involved in telemedicine by offering telehealth services.

Other drugstore chains are also getting into the telemedicine race. Rite Aid has begun to work with telehealth service provider, InTouch Health, to add telehealth kiosks to their pharmacies. It’s likely an increasing number of stores will continue to implement these services to help better serve their customers. And it seems that many people are more than happy with the care they’re getting through these telehealth options. A CVS Health study noted that more than 95 percent of patients who used the video chats were highly satisfied with the quality of care they received. The same study indicated that 95% of patients were satisfied with the convenience and overall experience of the telehealth option, making it a no-brainer for choosing it in the future.

As telemedicine becomes more mainstream as time goes by, it’s likely more people in the U.S. will have access to quality health care. Patients won’t be limited by their location or whether there are certain medical professionals in their area. Treatment options will be more affordable, because providers won’t be able to charge added fees for office visits or expensive emergency room care. Overall, drugstore clinics and telehealth services like CVS’ MinuteClinic will help to improve both access to and the cost of health care for the whole country.

Telemedicine has been taking the medical world by storm in recent years, and with good reason; it completely revolutionizes the way we practice medicine in the United States of America. Taking its cues from a 1960s initiative that saw doctors linking up with remote patients via telecommunications (which essentially meant ‘phones’ back in the day), telemedicine is a way of providing on-demand health care to patients not just in remote places, but everywhere and anywhere that could benefit from instantaneous communications with doctors and healthcare professionals. As it stands in 2018, telemedicine is almost entirely digitized, and acts as a mediator between patients and doctors. But is it the same in every state in the U.S., and if not, how exactly does the most populous state in the country, the Golden State, deal with it? What is the state of telemedicine in California today?

The first thing to remember when discussing telemedicine anywhere is that it is viewed as a tool in medical practice, not a distinct or separate form of medicine in and of itself. This is very much the case with telemedicine in California, where the utilization and implementation of telemedicine goes back to 1992. That year, the University of California-Davis progressed a telemedicine program based around monitoring fetuses, especially designed for rural communities, which saw a link between the UC Davis Medical Center and a Colusa community hospital. Based on the success of that initiative, Sacramento-based Kaiser Permanente launched a home telemedicine program, while Blue Cross of California and the prison system followed their lead by introducing their own specific telemedicine programs.

Telemedicine is viewed as a tool in medical practice, not a distinct or separate form of medicine in and of itself.

In response to this growing demand, the California government decided that new legislature was needed, and a few years later, it passed the Telemedicine Development Act of 1996. This Act set much of the groundwork for the way telemedicine is practiced in the state today, and although it is a relatively new phenomenon in the field of medicine, this important piece of legislature was crucial in getting it up and running in a safe and legal manner. It imposes a few baseline requirements, such as health care plans not necessarily requiring face-to-face contact between patient and doctor (telemedicine in a nutshell), and that every patient on the receiving end of telemedicinal care must sign a written consent form.

A few years later, as digital technology continued to increase and improve, the state of California doubled down on its telemedicine bills and created a new one: The Telehealth Advancement Act of 2011. This Act clarified several definitions in relation to telemedicine in the state, and also expanded the initiative to include the term ‘telehealth’, which provided an umbrella term for telemedicine in general. Most importantly of all, it mandated private payer remuneration for telehealth services, which was a major boost for both patients and doctors alike. It also decreed that meetings between patients and doctors didn’t necessarily have to take place in licensed health care facilities. With this, telemedicine in California became more widely available, and set the framework for expedited growth in the years to come. In a few states, a person-to-person physical exam is required before a doctor and a patient can begin treatment via telemedicine; this is not the case in California, where relationships may be established solely through telemedicine and remain legitimate.

A number of different practitioners can provide telemedicinal care in the state of California – they just have to be licensed under Division 2 of the state’s Healing Arts statute. This remit includes doctors, nurses, chiropractors, midwives, dieticians, nutritionists, dentists, and more. The type of telemedicine available in the state is wide and varied, and can be applied to almost every form of health care available. Everything from clinical consultations to medical marijuana from sites like MMJ Recs constitutes telehealth, bringing California way ahead of the curve when it comes to the initiative. California is also a huge state; this makes it a perfect area to benefit from telemedicine’s other major advantage – the widening availability of specialists.

A number of different practitioners can provide care via telemedicine in California.

Previously, especially in rural areas, patients were limited to seeing the specialist who was nearest to them. As many conditions require a specialist, whether they appear serious or not, this was severely limiting for some patients, who might not have had the opportunity to shop around for a specialist that suited them, by necessity of their location. In 2018, there is a huge range of specialists available via telemedicine, and they’re not limited the nearest one available. On top of that, patients can engage with specialists when and where they want to, as opposed to being put on a long list for a physical visit that could be months or even years away.

All in all, the future for telemedicine in California looks bright. Hopefully some other states will start taking some cues from the Golden State, and incorporate its embracing and acceptance of telemedicine into their own programs.

Telemedicine has become hugely popular in the United States. It is improving the lives of a vast amount of people. But not everybody is availing of it yet. However, the number of people using telemedicine is increasing all the time, and surely it is only a matter of time before everybody uses telemedicine in one form or another.

Here are seven reasons some people don’t use telemedicine… yet.

Some people are still unaware of telemedicine’s existence

Despite its recent explosion in popularity, many people who do not have a finger on the pulse of modern technological advances are still unaware that telemedicine is a viable option for them. With a busy family life and career, it can be difficult for many people to find the time to stay up-to-date with cutting-edge developments in modern technology. This is unfortunate and ironic, because when people discover telemedicine and begin to use it, it usually saves them a ton of time – time they could spend educating themselves on the wonders of modern technology! This lack of awareness will gradually go away as more and more people become avid telemedicine users and spread the word amongst their friends and family.

Telemedicine might seem like a daunting concept to older people who don’t have a solid understanding of technology.

There is still a widespread lack of understanding of technology

Many people who did not grow up using technology find modern telecommunication devices such as smartphones and tablets awfully confusing. Many baby boomers believe that using telecommunications technology is more difficult than it actually is, so they are resistant to attempting to learn about it. This lack of understanding of technology prevents people from using telemedicine. This issue will go away as devices become more and more intuitive and user-friendly and as more people cotton on to the overwhelming benefits that come from being at least modestly techno-literate.

Some people have a distrust of technology

Technophobia is a very real thing. Especially when it comes to their health, many people still believe that technology is unreliable, risky, and error-prone. This means that people are hesitant to use telemedicine and would rather stay with what they know. This distrust will slowly filter out of the population as people realize that their wellbeing, health, and safety are already thoroughly dependent on modern technology, and that, in reality, humans are far more prone to error than machines.

The U.S. still has inconsistent broadband availability

According to broadband mapping, many areas of the United States lag well behind the average in terms of broadband speed and price. Internet access and speeds still vary dramatically across the nation. For people who live in areas with inconsistent, overly expensive, or slow broadband, telemedicine is sometimes not a viable option. This problem will soon be overcome as broadband technology improves and companies vie to outdo each other by providing faster and faster connections to every region in the country.

Many people prefer the sense of trust embedded in face-to-face interactions with medical professionals.

Some people prefer face to face communication

It is a natural human instinct to desire face-to-face communication and connection, especially in times of stress. Reassurance is often more effective when given face-to-face. While telemedicine may be cheaper, less time-consuming, and less error-prone, people still place a very high value on in-person communication and the feeling it gives them. This desire for face-to-face communication, especially in times of stress, is not going to leave human beings anytime soon (and surely we wouldn’t want it to), but people will become more willing to forgo it when it becomes common knowledge than telemedicine, while often being less personable, is actually a more efficient way to acquire the best medical treatment available.

There are still limitations to telemedicine technology

While communications technology, and along with it telemedicine technology, is improving at an exponential rate, there are still many limitations. Many medical conditions are still not well suited to being treated remotely using telemedicine. It is still necessary to visit emergency rooms and doctor’s surgeries for many kinds of medical conditions and ailments. This will certainly remain the case for the foreseeable future. However, as technology improves, more conditions will become treatable remotely using telemedicine.

People still feel loyalty to their local family doctors

Many Americans have been visiting the same trusty, friendly family physician for decades, and so they feel a strong sense of loyalty. This is a nice thing. But it is hard to know if it will continue in perpetuity as telemedicine grows in stature and it becomes hard to argue that using telemedicine is not the most efficient way to get medical conditions treated. Will people’s sense of loyalty trump their desire to be as healthy as possible and to live as long as possible? It’s hard to imagine that this sense of loyalty is limitless. There will surely come a time when the case for telemedicine is just too strong to ignore.