Technology has spurred innumerable advances in medical care, but one new concept is helping healthcare providers fix a very basic problem: How do you get quality medical care to all patients, no matter their location or economic status?
Telemedicine is helping the distribution of care match its life-changing potential, providing streamlined exams, lower costs and greater patient access. By utilizing information and communication technologies, doctors are able to meet with patients from anywhere, most commonly through video conferencing. Patients can receive many of the same procedures that would be available in an in-person appointment – even having hearts or lungs checked by telephonic stethoscopes – all over a secure Internet connection. With remote monitoring in telemedicine, doctors are able to access their patients’ medical records digitally for all appointments.
Avera, a regional healthcare network that operates telemedicine technology in over 75 locations, conducted a survey of its patients and found that e-consultations increased by 33 percent in the last year. Avera’s regional coordinators say telehealth solutions have been especially popular in rural clinics and hospitals where medical specialists aren’t always readily available.
Reaching remote patients
Cathy Niklason, who coordinates telemedicine appointments for Avera in South Dakota, said e-consultation technology is a great help to those who don't have a way to travel long distances to see a doctor.
"A huge part of our population is elderly people," explained Niklason. "They have no way to get to Sioux Falls to see physicians. They have to ask a child or maybe a grandchild to take off work to drive them."
Telemedicine is a major factor in geographically displaced patients being able to get appropriate healthcare. The Avera survey found that 17 percent of patients said they would not be able to receive medical attention without the technology.
Along with connecting rural patients with quality healthcare, telemedicine also allows doctors greater flexibility. Physicians who live in two different places, for instance, can keep patients in both cities and connect with them through telemedicine. Doctors can monitor urgent care patients from home or give a consultation while on vacation.
"There's huge potential for telemedicine to be used in just about any situation you can think of where you need to connect a patient and a provider who are not in the same place," said Dr. Kathleen Webster, a divisional director at Loyola University Medical Center where telemedicine is used regularly.
Utilizing flexible communication
A beneficial addition to a healthcare provider's telemedicine platform is fax over IP. FoIP employs the Internet to send faxes, allowing documents to be sent and received from anywhere with a connection. Documents sent over secure healthcare fax can be sent to an email address, creating greater flexibility than traditional fax machines. Once doctors are done visiting with a patient, updated charts and records can be faxed easily to the patient or nearby hospital.
FoIP utilizes the cloud to store data, meaning information is secure while in transit. Once messages have been received, the contents are saved in an organization's dedicated server, creating an archive of past documents that can be searched at any time, from any device connected to the Internet. Additionally, FoIP service providers like FaxCore comply with requirements in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, ensuring compliance and patient safety.
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