What are virtual-healthcare-services trends?
Virtual healthcare is the use of communication technology such as telephones, video calls, and mobile apps to deliver health services remotely to patients outside of a health system. Virtual healthcare is essential to compensate resource and staff shortages, manage chronic conditions and monitor certain conditions remotely. (1)
Promoted by the advancement in technology and even accelerated by the pandemic, we are entering a new era, where in-person and virtual healthcare services will be seamlessly integrated and the choice of which one to go with will only depend on suitability to your medical condition and the cost.(2)
Why should I try virtual healthcare services?
● Easy access to healthcare services than ever
Virtual healthcare services are very helpful to remote patients
whether in rural or underserved area. Virtual healthcare can offer life-saving
services particularly for those patients who don't have many qualified doctors
where they live. (1)
● More efficient healthcare services than ever
The American Medical Association says that "Virtual
healthcare services are a promising step to improve the quality of patient
care". The AMA also said that the relationship between patient and
physician is becoming stronger as virtual healthcare services expand providing
more medical services remotely. (1)
● Convenience
Lots of time is usually wasted on routine doctor visits whether
stuck in traffic or patiently waiting in a waiting room. “Virtual visits reduce
travel time,” says George Go, M.D., of Kaiser Permanente Northwest. (3)
● Managing chronic conditions
Many hospital systems monitor chronic conditions such as diabetes,
hypertension, heart diseases and COPD using virtual healthcare technologies
daily to detect any problem early and take immediate actions. (3)
● Treating urgent systems
When you wake up having a fever or cough, the last thing you want
to do is to drag yourself out of house to sit-in waiting among lots of other
patients. Virtual care allows you to arrange an appointment right from your
bed. (3)
● Reduced healthcare cost
Virtual healthcare services result in saving more than six billion
dollars per year as reported by Towers Watson. These savings came from better
management of chronic illnesses, reducing travel time and fewer or shorter
hospital admissions. Those are wins for everybody. (1)
What are the new trends in virtual healthcare
services?
"Virtual healthcare services are here to stay and
expand" that's what the statistics is telling us. Virtual healthcare
services will be worth more than 66 billion dollars by the end of 2021 as
reported by Mordor Intelligence.
The new advancements and trends currently available in virtual
healthcare are as follow:
- Virtual
visits
Virtual visits offer patients the opportunity to communicate with
a trained medical specialist through a secure, two-way digital conversion
instead of visiting the doctor's clinic. A BC study said that 79% of patients
who experienced a virtual visit reported that the quality of care was equal to
an in-person visit. (4)
- Patient
portals
Patient portals are a new trend in virtual healthcare that allows
patients to gain a secure access to their personal health information online.
Patients feel more engaged in their health management and more capable of
taking informed decisions with their doctors. A study shows that about 94% say
they value monitoring their health information online. (4)
- Electronic
health and medical records
An electronic health record (EHR) contains all the interactions
the patients make with the healthcare system. Doctors can access lab results,
x-rays, ultrasound results and other information such as patient activity and
family history, all in one place. They can also review different types of care
the patient has received whether in a hospital or with a specialist. (4)
- Telehomecare
Telehomecare, also known as remote patient monitoring (RPM), gives
the healthcare provider (most likely a nurse or paramedic) the ability to see
and help patients manage their condition on their own. (4)
- e-Mental
health
e-Mental health is a virtual healthcare trend providing mental
health services and information in several forms such as:
- Crisis support — video calls,
phone calls, text support and online chat support
- Peer-led support — ranging from
games to chat rooms and peer support apps.
- Coaching — online therapy in the form of video, voice and text chat.(4)
- Advanced technology and healthcare apps
Although virtual healthcare services provide you with a convenient conversion with a trained medical specialist from the comfort of your home, patient participation and engagement can always be improved. As the "app culture" emerges and becomes so popular in our society, expect to find improved healthcare apps that take the communication between patient and health provider to another level. You can also find apps that personalize your information to be able to access it easily with the swipe of a finger. (5)
- Expansion
of the decentralized healthcare
Healthcare professionals are shifting, in rapidly increasing
numbers, from the larger hospital complexes to small community-based practices.
This trend is characterized by many hospitals offering their services in
decentralized locations. As the world evolves, it's expected to see younger
healthcare professionals prefer the flexible advantages that virtual healthcare
offer and continue the move towards decentralization by participating in
providing more virtual healthcare services. (5)
- Stronger
cyber security measures than ever
Cyber security is indispensable since virtual healthcare depends
completely on technology. Virtual healthcare systems are not strangers to
cyber-attacks but as virtual healthcare services are expanding and gaining more
popularity, cyber security became the first priority. In the coming few days,
we'll definitely witness massive improvement in the way virtual healthcare
systems protect confidential information. (5)
- Consolidation
As the business costs continue to rise and the regulations are
becoming more stringent, lots of small practices are struggling to keep their
doors open or expand properly. These practices began to seek help from other
virtual healthcare companies to find a solution. It won't be surprising if many
of these practices join up with major virtual healthcare services who have the
finances to keep expanding and thriving. These “alliances” will allow large
virtual healthcare companies to offer more specialized services which they will
acquire by absorbing failing practices. These are wins for everybody. (5)
- Proprietary
hardware/software is turning into a past experience
Hospitals and virtual healthcare companies have always been using
proprietary software and hardware to provide their services to the patients.
However, they're all expected to shift to easy-to-use and widely distributed
secure software because the advantages these programs offer, such as being
user-friendly and much more affordable compared to implementing proprietary
systems. (5)
- Fewer
and shorter visits to the ER (emergency room)
If you sprain your ankle, the only option, you will have, is to visit the emergency room. However, with the ease and convenience of virtual healthcare services around, it's way easier to get treatable diseases looked at and diagnosed long before it progresses to a point that requires a visit to the emergency room. (5)
Conclusion
The technology supporting virtual healthcare services did not
start to appear in 2020 — it has been there for years. It just needed the
COVID-19 pandemic to push virtual healthcare services forward, and to make more
health providers, institutions, and patients adopt and embrace digital health
trends and modern technology. As remote virtual healthcare services,
rapidly growing research and development practices now functioning at their
highest capacity, healthcare providers and patients got to realize the value of
digital healthcare services. Funding and investment activities indicate that
almost everybody understands the value in virtual health trends, too. (6)
References
1- "What Is Virtual Healthcare? Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs)" Available at:
https://tigerconnect.com/about/faqs/what-is-virtual-healthcare/
2- "How to Measure the Value of Virtual Health Care"
Available at:
https://hbr.org/2021/06/how-to-measure-the-value-of-virtual-health-care
3- "5 Benefits of Virtual Care for Patients" Available
at
4- "Virtual healthcare trends" Available at:
https://www.coverme.com/blog/health/is-virtual-healthcare-trends.html?province=ON&agecode=0
5- "Trends in TELEMEDICINE: 2021" Available at
https://www.medicalalertadvice.com/resources/telemedicine-trends/
6- "Digital Health Trends 2021: 5 Technologies That Will
Define the Future of Healthcare" Available at:
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