You might be forgiven for thinking that telemedicine is a relatively new innovation. In fact, it’s been around for many years now, albeit in a fairly rudimentary form in the early days. With an ever-growing and increasing amount of technology at our fingertips, advances in telemedicine have been particularly great over the last decade or more. It’s important to remember that telemedicine is not making these advances solely because it can make these advances, in other words just to take advantage of modern technology – it’s making these advances because there is an increasing demand, largely due to the benefits of telemedicine that have been so far demonstrated.

There are several reasons for this. Firstly, people living in remote parts of the States need better and quicker access to medical help and advice. Secondly, the ever-increasing cost of medicine is not only crippling some of our medical centers, but also making it difficult for some folk to afford treatment or health insurance. Finally, there’s that all-important commodity of which none of us seem to have enough… Time! As a patient, it’s time spent making appointments, waiting for appointments, waiting in a doctor’s office, waiting for results, waiting to speak to your specialist… You get the picture: it’s a waiting game! For the medical professionals it’s time spent visiting patients, waiting for input from other professionals, waiting for test results and scans to be sent, carrying out procedures and surgery, and so on.

Telemedicine is being adopted by more and more health care systems in more and more states. There are (aren’t there always?!) a few legalities to be sorted out, but in time it will become even more widespread and multi-faceted. Given our physician shortage, this can only be a good thing. So let’s look at the benefits of telemedicine and the ways it could save you time and money.

The first thing, obviously, is travel time. If you’re able to have a video appointment with your doctor via a smartphone or laptop from the comfort of your own home, there’s no travel time. Imagine that! In some of our rural areas, patients literally have to travel for hours to see a physician, and some patients who are less mobile might find traveling a struggle – so of course the reduced need for travel is one of the most important benefits of telemedicine.

With no travel time, there is no travel expense. So you’ll also save the cost of gas for your car or public transport charges.

It’s never been easier to access medical professionals from the comfort of your own home.

You might have to take unpaid time off work to see your doctor. Another of the many benefits of telemedicine is that many physicians offer video appointments outside of normal 9–5 working hours, so if you can take advantage of this, then there’s no loss of work time. In addition to this benefit, you’re also likely to be “seen” quicker via a video call, therefore treated quicker and back to normal more quickly, with the net result being less time off work.

If you’re waiting for a physical appointment, your illness or condition could worsen. So the quicker you’re seen, the less medication you might need or perhaps the less assistance you might need – either for yourself or in terms of child care.

A current trend in America is for more and more patients to bowl up at an ER with a minor complaint, because the wait to see their physician is just too long. Imagine if, instead of going to the ER with one of these said minor conditions, you were able to get a speedy video appointment. This would free up the ER for real emergencies, which would lead to a reduction in overall costs, eventually resulting (we hope) in lower charges to you, the patient.

Freeing up emergency departments and doctors’ waiting rooms is just one of the many benefits of telemedicine.

With telemedicine making the exchange of data and of opinions between medical experts much easier and quicker, again this will ultimately reduce costs and therefore charges. It could also save you, the patient, valuable time in the diagnosis and treatment of your condition. Imagine a scenario where you have to have various scans, X-rays, etc., all of which need to be looked at and discussed by more than one specialist. Telemedicine allows each of these specialists to receive a copy of all of your procedures electronically, and then to have a video consultation to discuss your condition and treatment. Time and money saved.

Of course, it’s fair to point out that not all illnesses or conditions are possible to deal with remotely. Telemedicine is excellent for psychiatric illnesses and for physical conditions relating to endocrinology, for example, but obviously a video appointment wouldn’t work where an actual physical examination is needed. Telepsychiatry is one area which is definitely on the increase and with an escalation in virtual doctor visits in general; telehealth companies are saying that we will all see benefits and monetary savings.

Telemedicine platforms – a software system – give physicians a secure and well-organized way of practicing medicine remotely. They can keep track of their patients’ health and care more easily; share records and data with other specialists; give out e-prescriptions anytime, anyplace; document all remote patient visits; and send out bills and receive payment electronically by both patients and insurance companies. All of this saves everyone – patients and specialists alike – time and money, and with ongoing developments and advances, the patient can only hope to experience more and more benefits of telemedicine.

Although telemedicine has been around for some time now, it’s only really in the last decade or so that the medical community and patients alike have started to embrace it. Understandable, given that it was very rudimentary in the early days. The potential was there though and obvious to most. With recent advances and developments in technology and with the wider availability of broadband services, telemedicine is finally beginning to show its true colors.

According to recent surveys and to current chat on the subject among the medical community, it’s fair to say that there are mixed views on telemedicine, for reasons that we will outline. Most revealing, though, is a recent national survey that found over 63% of health care providers use telemedicine in some form or other. The general belief is that telehealth can expand a physician’s patient base, is more cost-efficient, and makes it possible to engage better with a patient – which means that a positive outcome is more likely.

When asked for their views, doctors invariably recognize the importance of telemedicine in the running of their daily practice, but believe that it needs more development. They feel that it’s particularly of benefit to their elderly and immobile patients. They also want to have phone calls and video calls seen as part of their service and therefore as something they are reimbursed for.

There are many positive views on telemedicine among the medical community that are relevant to how telemedicine could benefit you. Physicians can see the advantage of virtual visits with patients who are unable to make a scheduled appointment in person. A video call can be instantaneous. Practices lose a lot of revenue through missed appointments; telehealth visits reduce the number of these lost appointments as well as giving patients greater flexibility on when they “see” the doctor.

Telemedicine is revolutionizing medicine – but what do those in the medical community think about it?

Telemedicine is also playing an important part in combating the rise of chronic and acute conditions. Patients with a recognized chronic condition need regular checks and care, and sometimes lifestyle coaching. Acute conditions are often recognizable via telehealth with diagnosis and treatment therefore available more quickly.

Surgeons are also supporting the use of telemedicine in surgical follow-ups. Post-surgery care is invariably crucial to the successful recovery of patients; without good care, readmission to hospital is more likely. Through telemedicine – in particular, via video link – health care providers can easily monitor their patients as they recover from the surgery.

Another area where the medical community is embracing telemedicine is in the field of mental health services. It’s widely believed that there is currently a crisis in American mental health. Telemedicine can expand access to mental health and emotional support services to those in remote areas or those who simply do not have adequate care close by. It’s also often easier for a person who may be suffering from depression or from low self-esteem to speak to a specialist via a video link rather than in person.

A further positive influence of telemedicine is seen to be in the remote monitoring of patients to make sure they are taking their medication or are following specific medical instructions. An example might be the adjusting of insulin based on glucose readings. Again, this not only helps the patient, but also means less time taken in follow-up by the caretaker and less hospital re-admissions.

According to the Pareto law of medical diagnosis, 80% of diagnoses come from the discussion of symptoms and 20% as a direct result of an examination. So telemedicine can be useful in the many situations where a physical examination is not required and also in situations where the patient might simply wish to ask his/her doctor some questions about a non-life-threatening condition or a health need. These services can often be available 24 hours a day, making it easy to see that savings can be made on time, travel, and work-loss hours.

Similarly, medics are quick to recognize the important role telemedicine plays in the running of small and/or remote hospitals. Such hospitals may not have the resources to keep a radiologist or a pathologist, for example, in-house 24/7. Or they may not have a particular specialist in house. Telemedicine allows images to be transmitted to the relevant person anywhere at any time, meaning data can be analyzed and specialists can view ultrasounds and offer an opinion.

Many medical practitioners and patients alike are embracing the technology that makes telemedicine possible.

Some of the negative views on telemedicine offered by the medical community include the fact that telemedicine regulations vary greatly from state to state and can be difficult to interpret. Some physicians simply don’t have the time or the wherewithal to look into the guidelines for their own particular state.

Another unfavorable view is to do with the technology involved. Some physicians feel that their patients may not be computer-literate enough to be able to embrace telemedicine. Others are concerned about the cost of purchasing and setting up the necessary equipment. Training may be required in their practice and possibly the hiring of additional IT staff. Also, with technology of course comes technical glitches, which could happen during a virtual consultation. Some physicians are wary of this.

However, the above potential problems notwithstanding, it’s been found that even if they are perhaps initially hesitant in the use of telemedicine applications such as video appointments, once physicians start using them, they are often very surprised by the versatility of video technology and how it enhances their services.

More and more members of the medical community are coming on board with telemedicine. Guidelines need to be streamlined, technology a little more secure, and the availability of broadband intensified in order for even more people to embrace it. There’s no doubt, though, that telemedicine is the future and that it could have a vital role to play in your own wellbeing.

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.

You may be unfamiliar with the concept of telemedicine, but it is changing the lives of patients the world over. With the advent of new and emerging technology, we are all carrying our lives in our pockets via our smartphones. They cover everything from banking, to contacts, to diaries. They are everything in a small device – and they now cover health care too. While you would traditionally visit a doctor in a clinic or a hospital, it is now easier than ever to access health care via the internet from the comfort of your own home through the medium of telemedicine.

What is telemedicine? Simply put, it is the delivery of medical advice and diagnoses to a patient via the means of telecommunications. It may seem a bit unorthodox, but the truth is that telemedicine is revolutionizing health care for all kinds of patients. Women can access a prescription to a contraceptive pill without leaving the house. Parents can get advice on how to treat their sick kids, knowing that they’re doing the right thing, and medical marijuana patients can easily access advice and treatment without fear of judgment.

It can be difficult for people who need medical marijuana to be able to access treatment. While 29 states in the USA have legalized the use of medical marijuana, each state has its own rules for eligibility and there is still considerable stigma surrounding the use of medical marijuana to legitimately treat various conditions, including multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, cancer, and depression. It can be very difficult and intimidating for a patient to go into a doctor’s office and seek treatment with medical marijuana. Telemedicine can be a much easier and safer route for patients to get the treatment that they need.

MMJ patients have benefited in so many ways from the advent of telemedicine.

So how do you use telemedicine to access medical marijuana treatment? The good news is that it’s a really easy process. There are many medical professionals operating online who can offer you confidential medical advice and give you your medical marijuana card so that you can access the correct treatment. You simply log on to a registered and professional website like MMJ Recs, wait for a doctor to become available, and speak to them about your condition. If they think that you’re suitable for treatment, they will write a recommendation for you to get medical marijuana. The letter will be mailed to you, officially signed and stamped, and then you’ll be able to get the medication that you need.

Many patients who require access to medical marijuana have difficulty leaving the house due to a number of reasons. This could be agoraphobia and anxiety related to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or physical reasons relating to the severity of a condition such as Parkinson’s disease or ataxia. Patients like this may not always have access to a doctor who can provide home visits. In addition, home doctor’s visits are often more expensive than traditional clinic visits, so it can be problematic for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Telemedicine doctor’s appointments are usually even cheaper than going to visit a doctor in person, so are very suitable for people who may not have a lot of money but who need to visit a doctor frequently.

Now that telemedicine has come into play, it’s a much less stressful experience to consult with a doctor and obtain a medical marijuana card.

Depending on your state laws, there may be restrictions on the kind of medical marijuana that you can take. The best thing about telemedicine is that you’re not being rushed out of an office by a hassled doctor with a waiting room full of patients. You may have to pay a bit more for extra time, but a doctor who is working via telemedicine will not feel as pressured to rush you out and will be able to dedicate a little more time to answering any questions that you might have. They can guide you in relation to dispensaries if you are not familiar with the best way to purchase medical marijuana, and they can also tell you what strain of medical marijuana and which form to take it in is the best for you.

As marijuana is still illegal at a federal level, you will not get a medical marijuana prescription, but rather a recommendation. This is what you can bring to a dispensary in order to get your medical marijuana. Telemedicine is making medical marijuana patients’ lives far easier and has empowered them to be able to seek their own treatment that is the most appropriate for their illness. Telemedicine is easy and convenient, both for patients and medical professionals. There’s nothing better than knowing you’re carrying the best medical advice possible in your pocket and that you’re able to seek help whenever you need it.

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.

The recent revolution in telemedicine is making life much easier for patients. Receiving medical treatment has never been more simple and efficient than it is today.

Telemedicine, meaning health care that is provided from a distance using technology such as a smartphone, laptop, or any other mobile device, has become hugely popular over the past few years. Today, the vast majority of people have a highly powerful personal computer within arm’s reach 24 hours a day. Modern smartphones and tablets now contain computers that are far more advanced than the computers we used to get to the moon in the 1960s!

This means that medical consultations can now be done via modern technology. Using just a smartphone, a patient can consult with a doctor over any distance effectively and safely. The patient and doctor can use live video links and share images and health informatics data securely and instantly.

Telemedicine can work for everybody. It is particularly helpful for people who live in remote locations. It is also great for people who are stuck for time, because they lead very busy lives or because they need to consult with a doctor quickly, as it is much speedier and more time-efficient than meeting with a doctor in person. Another great thing about telemedicine is that it allows a patient to have a much wider choice of who they consult with. No longer is a patient only able to avail of health care professionals in their local area – using telemedicine, they can consult with doctors anywhere in the country.

One group of people that benefits particularly from the revolution in telemedicine are disabled parking permit users. Telemedicine has made it much easier than ever before to get a handicap parking permit.

There’s no longer any need to travel to obtain your handicap parking permit!

Handicap parking permits are issued by all 52 states and allow their users to park in strategically located parking spaces, providing easy access to buildings and facilities that would otherwise be difficult to access if the person had to park a further distance away. There is a long list of disabilities and medical conditions that qualify a person to get a handicap parking permit. Many people around the country qualify for one but don’t realize it, and so have yet to avail of this life-enhancing service.

If you have limited mobility, a disabled parking permit will really improve your quality of life, and thanks to telemedicine, getting a permit has never been easier!

Here is how you can use telemedicine to help you get a handicap parking permit in just five easy steps.

Step 1: Establish that You Have a Qualifying Medical Condition

The list of qualifying conditions varies by state, but there are a bunch of conditions that qualify a person in every state. It is also largely up to the discretion of the telemedicine doctor you consult with. Here is a list of conditions that every state recognizes as qualifying a person for a handicap parking permit:

• Heart disease
• Obesity
• Chronic inflammatory disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus
• Being an amputee
• Arthritis
• Respiratory problems
• Any condition that requires the use of a portable oxygen tank
• Any condition that necessitates the use of a wheelchair, crutches, cane, walking frame, walking stick or Zimmer frame
• Acute sensitivity to sunlight
• Bad hearing or eyesight

If your condition resembles any of these, then you are very likely to qualify for a parking permit in your state.

Step 2: Make an Online Appointment with a Health Care Professional

Once you have established that you are a potential candidate for a handicap parking permit, the next step is to book a telemedicine consultation online. The consultation can be done over the phone from the comfort of your own home. So click here and book an appointment at a time that is most convenient for you. It’s very simple.

Telemedicine has made it so much easier to consult with a doctor and get your disabled parking permit online.

Step 3: Do the Consultation

When the time of your scheduled consultation arrives, be available and ready. A relaxed and friendly chat with a health care professional from the secure surrounding of your own home can be a surprisingly enjoyable experience. The doctor will discuss your condition with you and explain your options. At the end of the consultation they will let you know if you qualify for a handicap parking permit.

Step 4: Download the Department of Motor Vehicles Application Form and Complete It

After your telemedicine consultation, the next step is to go to the DMV website and download the application form for a handicap parking permit in your state. It is a simple form – just print it out and fill it in.

Step 5: Post the Doctor’s Letter and the Form Back to the DMV

Once you receive your telemedicine doctor’s letter of recommendation, put the letter and the DMV application form together in an envelope and post it back to the DMV. They will process it (it usually takes a week or two) and send you back your shiny new disabled parking permit. You can now use handicap parking spaces.

As you can see, this is an easy process. If you think you might qualify, it could be well worth looking into. A disabled parking permit makes life much easier!

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.

It’s perhaps difficult to get our heads around this fact, but it’s true to say that telemedicine has been with us for nearly a hundred years now. We probably think of telemedicine in terms of video and Skype calls, or the emailing of scans and X-rays – things that could surely only have been available in the last decade or two! In fact, though, one of the earliest forms of telemedicine occurred in the 1940s, when radiology images were transported from one town to another via a telephone line. This was the start of it, but telemedicine has sure come a long way since those days!

The use of telemedicine today has spread rapidly and is now part of the fabric of hospital services, specialty departments, home health agencies, physician offices, and indeed patients’ workplaces and homes. Telemedicine encompasses everything from a simple telephone consultation or Skype call to digital scans and even the remote monitoring of intensive care units. According to the American Telemedicine Association, more than 20 million Americans will have access to a remote health care service by the end of 2017.

Let’s look at exactly why Americans are embracing telemedicine in droves and how telemedicine could benefit you.

Patients who live in remote locations in the U.S. are experiencing great benefits from the advent of telemedicine.

If you live in a rural part of the States, then simply traveling to see a physician or for a hospital appointment can not only be a huge challenge, but can also take up most of your day. Imagine how much time, energy, and money you would save if you were able to speak with your specialist remotely. It wouldn’t work in all cases, of course, but where you don’t actually need a physical examination it could be hugely beneficial.

Another group of people benefiting from the growing availability of telemedicine is the elderly. The number of elderly Americans is increasing year on year and, of course, as you get older, you are generally less mobile and need more care. Also, older citizens might find it more difficult to travel for every appointment, so to be able to speak with a health professional from the comfort of your own home would be a great benefit. Many senior care home facilities are now accessing telemedicine via videoconferencing. Patients can be viewed and observed by a physician in situ (a much more comfortable and amenable experience for them), a diagnosis can be made, and treatments or prescriptions prescribed. If all of this is done remotely it saves time and money as well as the problems associated with getting elderly patients from A to B. Add to those benefits a less harrowing undertaking for the patient and the fact that this type of care results in fewer hospital admissions, and you have an all-round winner when it comes to telemedicine and elderly care patients.

A further telling reason why the U.S. is embracing telemedicine is that there is currently a shortage of physicians in the States. This shortage is expected to worsen over the next few years. The increase of telemedicine can aid this problem simply because it saves time. Physicians can deal with more patients if they are seeing them remotely; appointments aren’t wasted through “no-shows”; consultation and diagnosis tends to be quicker remotely; scans and X-rays can be shared among experts without the need to actually meet in person and discuss the patient. The more consultations, treatments, and diagnoses of less serious complaints that can be done via telemedicine, the more time the professionals have to treat serious illnesses and conditions. We all benefit from that, right?

From patients right through to health care professionals themselves, telemedicine is providing a huge host of benefits.

Imagine, too, if a physician wanted to take on a new partner. He or she might need to carry out renovations or building works in order to add a new treatment room to accommodate this new partner. There’s an immediate expense, which would only in time be passed onto you, the patient. But if this physician could simply employ a new partner to work remotely with patients, they would only need a desk, a phone, and a laptop. Job done immediately and with little cost! Physicians from the same practice could work rotating schedules, thereby making someone available during out-of-work hours. Again, this allows the practice to treat more patients and gives the patients greater flexibility in accessing help and advice. Something that’s surely of interest to everyone – not least employers, as it means less appointments and consultations during working hours.

Health insurers have perhaps been dragging their heels a little in embracing telemedicine culture, but more and more private insurers are now starting to cover telehealth services. Many states are also coming on board by introducing laws and guidelines. The extent of insurers’ cover varies greatly at the moment and some employ geographical restrictions, so there’s a way to go yet, but we are heading in the right direction. The more health insurance companies that offer cover for telemedicine services, the more the services will be promoted and therefore used by patients. Most insurers can see the advantage for their rural members and some of the more far-sighted companies can see that telemedicine cover might attract businesses who want to offer a modern-day convenience as part of their employee package. Insurers are also hoping that telemedicine will mean less of their members ending up in the more expensive health care scenarios. This is all good news for the consumer. Less costs for our health insurer will mean lower premiums for us.

As you can see, there are many compelling reasons why the U.S. is embracing telemedicine and many ways that telemedicine can be of benefit to you, the consumer. As technology improves, these benefits will surely become even more apparent to us all.

Telemedicine is an exciting and innovative solution to a number of issues faced by patients, but many people find it slightly confusing and off-putting. The truth is that telemedicine is simply healthcare provided via telecommunications technology. It is not a new development as doctors have used telephony since the technology was invented, but it is making new breakthroughs thanks to smartphone technology. Like contemporary telemedicine, the use of emotional support animals, or ESAs, is also not new but is currently experiencing a massive surge in popularity. Animals have been used for therapeutic reasons for thousands of years, but now it is much easier to access proper protection for emotional support animals and their owners thanks to modern technology. As use of telemedicine and emotional support animals grows, the two are being used in tandem more and more frequently.

While many people think that the process of getting an emotional support animal letter is difficult, it’s actually very easy when you use telemedicine. An emotional support animal letter is a document that is stamped, signed, and dated by a medical professional and states that your emotional support animal is used to support you in the treatment of your emotional or psychological condition.

An emotional support animal can be an incredible form of therapy and treatment.

Many people who have conditions that can be helped by emotional support animals may find it quite difficult to leave the house, which is why telemedicine can be so powerful for them. Telemedicine allows these patients to have an online consultation in order to receive their emotional support animal letter instead of having to go to the doctor’s office, which can be an intimidating experience if you are suffering from particular anxieties or phobias. Emotional support animals can help in the treatment of numerous conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, stress and anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. In providing tangible support, ESAs often ensure that their owners can live far more productive lives than those who are battling their conditions alone.

In order to get an emotional support animal letter via telemedicine, you just need to have an online consultation which can be done on your smartphone. You may have to wait in a virtual waiting room, but when you get through, you’ll speak to a qualified medical professional who will assess your suitability. They will ask you about your condition and how your pet helps you manage it. If they deem you suitable for ESA treatment, they will write you an emotional support animal letter, which will be valid for one year. When your letter expires, you will need to have another consultation to have your ESA recertified.

When you receive your ESA letter, you will have certain protections under the law. Tenants cannot be prejudiced against by landlords with anti-pet regulations, as ESAs must be accommodated for and cannot be subject to restrictions such as size and weight. You also cannot be discriminated against by airlines who must allow you to fly along with your emotional support animal. They must do all they can to accommodate you and cannot legally stop you and your ESA from traveling together.

Telemedicine and emotional support animals pair perfectly together to give people the treatment they need much more easily.

The power of pairing telemedicine and emotional support animals is that it can connect you to a medical professional who really understands how ESAs work. There are some doctors who do not believe in the therapeutic power of these animals, despite clear evidence that they have a massive impact on their owners. If you live somewhere that has only a couple of options when it comes to medical advice, it can be difficult to get the specialized care and advice that you need. With telemedicine, you are instantly connected to professionals who are familiar with your needs and those of people like you, who will not judge you, and who want to help. The best thing is that you can access all of this from the comfort of your own home.

Telemedicine and emotional support animals are established therapies that are having their own renaissances, so it makes sense that they work perfectly together. With telemedicine, the power is with the patient and you will be taken seriously and listened to. Take your life back into your own hands and use telemedicine to get the best treatment available to you.

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.