[Infographic and Comments] Telehealth Benefits, Delivery and Outcomes

Commentary: Drivers of telehealth adoption

Looming physician shortages are indeed a factor driving telehealth adoption.

But I believe telehealth adoption is driven even more by the immediate problems of physician shortage compounded by increasing demand for healthcare services, and increasing regulatory scrutiny on the care that is delivered.

Here are a few articles discussing how telehealth plays into the larger landscape of healthcare.

• Why is telehealth a driving force in healthcare?
• Healthcare reform – how telehealth fits in

Commentary: Benefits of telehealth

The example benefits listed in the infographic are indeed valuable.

In fact, I think the benefits list is even bigger if you (1) get into specific clinical areas like telestroke or (2) include areas which telehealth overlaps with such as mHealth.

For example, with telestroke a rural hospital / provider benefits from being able to keep the patient.

With remote monitoring of cardiac patients, you can also reduce re-admissions, which would now incur Medicare penalties if a heart failure patient is re-admitted within 30 days post-discharge.

And with mobile health apps, you can increase patient participation in their healthcare.

Every step in which you can make patients active participants in their own healthcare rather than recipients of “sick care” is a benefit.

For a brief listing of additional telehealth benefits, check out “15 Benefits of Telehealth”.

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