Importance of Telehealth Samples for Students †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Importance of Telehealth. Answer: Introduction The current assignment focuses on the importance of Telehealth within the current health scenario. Telehealth has emerged as a boon within the rural health care scenario. It has been noted that owing to a number of limitations people located in rural and distant places are not able to avail sufficient health services. Some of these factors are distant, time and cost which often limit the accessibility to healthcare services. Therefore, the implementation of Telehealth enables the provision of care services in much real time and convenient manner. Problem There are a number of challenges faced in the implementation of telehalth services within rural areas. Some of these are lack of sufficient administrative engagement where not every member of the executive team could foresee the opportunities offered by the incorporation of Telehealth and telemedicine. As commented by Burch, Gray Sharp (2017), not every payor within the medical set up are willing to pay for the valuable proposition. The second issue which may be faced over here is facing technical glitches in the delivery of healthcare services. In this respect, the physicians may disapprove of depending too much upon technology for provision of healthcare services to their patients. The reasons for the same are the technical glitches, which sometimes disrupt the internet connectivity resulting in sudden break within the sessions leading to dissatisfactory services and disengagement of patients (Bradford, Caffery Smith, 2016). The third and the major form of issue which may be faced over here is the lack of sufficient infrastructural support. The lack of funds and suitable environment within the care setup does not allow for the implementation of sophisticated technologies (Jang-Jaccard, Nepal, Alem Li, 2014). There are additional sustainability issues with the implementation of Telehealth facilities within rural infrastructure. The biggest issue that lies over here is the lack of reimbursement, which could keep the process going to mitigate the additional costs. However, for the realization of the immense capabilities of the telehealth services sufficient collaboration across rural region with emergency departments of nearby hospitals via videoconferencing needs to be set up. Capabilities There are a number of potential benefits of Telehealth in empowering rural health and provide maximum support to the people. As commented by Weinstein et al. ( 2014), navigating between various online and in-person resources can lead to confusion and service abandonment. Therefore, Telehealth allows immediate assessment through triage. In case of primary care services the patients are first attended by a nurse, attendant or general physician. In the context of immediate concern the call is transferred through warm transfer to a telehealth specialist. However, for critical and complex care the patients are directly booked for in-person treatment at a healthcare facility or nursing homes (Weinstein et al., 2014). The telehealth can extend and improve primary care by widening the outreach capabilities of the healthcare services. A patient availing telehealth services can request for follow up appointments online or palce demand for the same through a telehealth brokerage engine. It eases the procedure of therapy adjustments through virtual support system such mobile platforms for informing about the changed schedules and the appointments to the patient population. Telehealth reduces transit burdens on patients with reduced mobility Benefits There are a number of benefits of telehealth services which had been discussed in more details over here. The implementation of such services within the rural set up means that the patients are regularly in touch with the physicians without actually travelling to the centers. As mentioned by Bradford, Caffery Smith (2016), the implementation of telehealth services can actually reduce the burden of unnecessary hospital administration reducing pressure on the limited resources. The Telehealth services can allow transfer of health data in much real time. These could be used by the patient population for getting quick advice across referral windows to specialist care services. The telehealth care services can also be a charged allowing sufficient collection of fees over each visit. Therefore, such initiatives could address the concern over getting sustainability reimbursements over long term. Conclusion Therefore, the telehalth services can actually change the scenario of health care services by providing easy to use, on the go access to medical consultation by the patients. It is particularly useful in reaching out to patients located at distant rural regions and who cannot easily afford costly visits at hospitals. The implementation of such services reduces the dependency on hospitals and reduces the excessive burden on healthcare. Moreover, one of the most positive effects of the incorporation of Telehealth services is that the same could be used for receiving expert opinions within the boundaries of ones home. References Bradford, N. K., Caffery, L. J., Smith, A. C. (2016). Telehealth services in rural and remote Australia: a systematic review of models of care and factors influencing success and sustainability.Rural and remote health,16(4), 3808. Burch, S., Gray, D., Sharp, J. (2017). The power and potential of telehealth what health systems should know: proposed legislation in Congress offers the promise that the nation's healthcare policy will support the expansion of telehealth, allowing hospitals and health systems to fully realize the benefits of this important emerging approach to care.Healthcare Financial Management,71(2), 46-50. Jang-Jaccard, J., Nepal, S., Alem, L., Li, J. (2014). Barriers for delivering telehealth in rural Australia: a review based on Australian trials and studies.Telemedicine and e-Health,20(5), 496-504. Weinstein, R. S., Lopez, A. M., Joseph, B. A., Erps, K. A., Holcomb, M., Barker, G. P., Krupinski, E. A. (2014). Telemedicine, telehealth, and mobile health applications that work: opportunities and barriers.The American journal of medicine,127(3), 183-187.