Telehealth has gained lots of traction with the ongoing pandemic situation. This trend shows strong evidence of staying and even increasing moving forward. The future of telehealth seems certain as more physicians and patients rely on remote care and the technologies that smartly deliver them. Yet, there is still much to learn about what telehealth is and even more about telemedicine. These two terms have been used interchangeably and for understandable reasons, one of which is more likely because both have the prefix “tele” denoting delivery of services from a distance.
Telemedicine and Telehealth
Telemedicine and telehealth are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same. If you compared telemedicine to telehealth, you’ll find that telehealth is much more all-encompassing than telemedicine. Telemedicine is limited only to remote medical services; it doesn’t cover any of the non-medical remote services that telehealth offers, like virtual clinical meetings, health check-ups through apps, etc.
Telehealth as the use of electronic information and telecommunications to support long-distance medical treatment, education for patients and providers, public health, and administration. Telehealth can refer to remote clinical services, such as videoconferencing, internet use, store-and-forward imaging, streaming media like videos, and terrestrial and wireless communications
What is telehealth? What is telemedicine? They are related, similar in some aspects, but there are marked differences particularly in scope and usage.
What is Telehealth?
Telehealth is online, real-time healthcare that gives you access to the best doctors without leaving your home. With a swipe of the fingertip, you can connect to a specialist on their schedule and in just minutes take care of all your health needs.
Telehealth is the use of digital mediums to improve the health and well-being of humans. Telehealth is a part of E-Health, which also includes providing health related information for Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), educating and training Health Care Workers (HCWs), and providing medical services to patients via virtual mediums.
It is more than just simple remote interaction between patients and physicians or among many other people.
One of the examples of Telehealth is given below:
The beneficiary can check their blood pressure and cholesterol levels using the mobile app. Patients can also use an online service like a patient portal to view lab reports and book appointments. The patient will get reminders from the online service for things like medication refills, vaccinations, or physical checkups.
Benefits of Telehealth are as follows:
Virtual healthcare technology or Remote Patient Monitoring is an innovative way of monitoring and improving health. This helps to bridge the gap between virtual medical care and physical medical care – especially for those who do not have easy access to health practitioners. With remote technology, physicians are able to monitor the progress of a patient’s health as well as share reports with them remotely, which is great for patients in rural areas who otherwise don’t see many doctors.
Mobile Health allows providers to deliver healthcare and educational materials through mobile devices in order to provide quality healthcare despite location constraints. Video consultations are also helpful when physicians in different locations share different ideas that could lead to treatment options available all around the world. Furthermore, infrastructure costs are reduced because hospitals no longer need large buildings, and HCPs can offer better service without overcrowding their practice. Rural populations will have more accessible care because there is always some form of internet, a computer or a smartphone available for patients, which enables them to reach out to specialist physicians whenever they need it—without ever leaving their home!
Telehealth: Scope, Services, and Goals
Telehealth covers a wider range of remote health care services than telemedicine. It relies on “the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support and promote long-distance clinical healthcare, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health administration”, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
So when we speak of telehealth, it includes all digital content like images, videos, or text files that can be electronically sent and stored on a computer. It is conducted via smartphones, video conferencing, streaming platforms, wearables, landlines, the internet and wireless communications. It allows two or more people separated by distance, long or short, to easily communicate with one another. The services are not just between a provider and a patient, but also between the patient’s family. It can enable communication among multiple providers and even connect two medical devices.
As the illustratration shows, telehealth utilizes technologies for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) to transmit medical measurements like glucose readings, blood pressure, and blood oxygen. Other RPM devices include vital sign monitoring devices or wearable biosensors. These health measurements allow clinicians to oversee their patients without the need for an in-person visit and they can make the necessary interventions without any delay.
Telehealth leverages technologies to provide patient care and facilitate the delivery of health care services. It covers both clinical and non-clinical services. The former is specific to telemedicine while both are services of telehealth. By non-clinical services, telehealth also includes administrative functions, provider training, health promotion, and medical education; all of which are not telemedicine. So telemedicine is part and parcel of telehealth and it is specific to providing technology to connect a clinician to a patient.
What Is Telemedicine?
A telemedicine consultation is medical care delivered electronically, often called “e-health.” It involves the use of information technologies to manage health, diagnose illness and show progress.
Telemedicine gives patients the opportunity to meet with physicians through the phone or through videoconferencing on their tablet. Telemedicine apps became a best-seller during the recent pandemic, as patients found it easier to diagnose themselves when they were alone at home.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines telemedicine as “healing from a distance”. With telemedicine, physicians and patients can share real-time information. Physicians are authorized to prescribe drugs without any physical interaction. This makes it easier for more people to use telemedicine services, which in turn helps patients engage more.
Few examples of Telemedicine activities are as follows:
An X-Ray scan report can be sent through the internet, and the physician will receive a notification. Patients can also consult a doctor for unusual skin conditions or discolorations.
Benefits of Telemedicine
Telemedicine offers many benefits, such as reduced exposure to pathogens, and reduced need for middle-of-the-night medical care, improved doctor safety, and the convenience of online psychiatric care.
It may seem that there are significant disparities between these two organizations, but they both aim to provide medical care for people in remote areas.
Limitations of Telemedicine
Telemedicine is not as helpful in urgent medical emergencies when there needs to be immediate care. However for symptoms and follow-ups, telemedicine can be very helpful.
Telemedicine: Specific and Relevant
Telemedicine is specific to delivering only remote clinical services. It is similar to a patient walking in a doctor’s office to have a consultation. Telemedicine is all about that interaction but remotely. It uses telecommunication technology to practice medicine from a distance. An elderly patient having trouble with mobility can easily talk to a doctor without leaving the comfort of their home. This has been the practice as of late because of COVID and it is keeping the most vulnerable safe and unexposed.
Diagnosis, treatment, and doctor’s intervention to stop the spread of a disease can now be done by remote video conferencing. A picture of a wound sent to the doctor, a text message or a phone call as a postoperative follow-up, or remote measurement of vital signs are just a few examples of the value of telemedicine. More importantly among the elderly and those with chronic conditions, the use of telemedicine technology has paved the way for Chronic Care Management (CCM) services to provide value-based patient care to those who need it the most.
Did you know that our RPM and CCM programs can significantly increase your revenues? Let’s talk now! (Just click the chat link on this page).
With just a few examples given, this means that all telemedicine is telehealth but not vice-versa. A video conference by a world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon to a group of medical students is telehealth, not telemedicine. In the same way that an x-ray of a patient’s injury presented to a group of surgeons is again not telemedicine but telehealth.
Crossing Telehealth Roadblocks
Both telehealth and telemedicine are effective strategies to improve access and delivery of patient care. Yet there are still some providers who are reluctant to push for a more rigorous remote care program.
The most common roadblock is the time and costs to deliver telemedicine services. Some providers will have to integrate another software, set up a whole new IT team, and provide more training to their clinical staff. Some providers like to just use one software to manage their practice. However, telemedicine technologies can be seamlessly integrated into many electronic workflows nowadays. All it takes is to find the right vendor or partner to meet all the requirements when it comes to remote and coordinated patient care.
True, with the onset of COVID, privacy and security rules eased up especially in many popular platforms like Zoom, FaceTime, and Google HangOuts, because providers needed a quicker alternative to providing remote patient care. However, in the past year or so, telemedicine platforms have integrated more privacy and security features into their systems, offering a secure solution and remaining HIPAA-compliant.
Telehealth: The Future of Healthcare Delivery
Telehealth and telemedicine have provided a reliable lifeline in this time of a worldwide health crisis. Their technologies and services have served many patients and provided access to much-needed care. Practices can leverage telehealth technologies in connecting RPM devices, improving patient engagement through the use of varying applications, and utilizing care coaching to help in the efficient management of chronic conditions. Telehealth paves the way for more proactive and preventive care for patients without dealing with transportation problems or time constraints in conducting in-person doctor visits. Patients can easily connect and communicate with their doctor in real-time without waiting in the doctor’s clinic and incurring travel costs. Likewise, doctors will have more flexibility and freedom when it comes to scheduling. Different providers can also easily coordinate to create a treatment plan. Down the line, all these can result in avoiding further complications or unplanned ER visits.
This new normal of widespread telehealth and more patients opting in for a virtual clinic consultation has greatly impacted the healthcare industry, including payers, providers, and health systems. Payers have shifted their models to reimbursements for telehealth services. Providers have adapted to providing care remotely instead of the usual face-to-face consultations.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has also embedded telemedicine into its long-term strategy. This message is loud and clear in this year’s final rule on RPM and CCM reimbursements. Practices actively participating in the RPM and CCM programs can have the potential to grow exponentially in revenues while providing better care to more patients.
Even before the pandemic, telehealth services in the U.S. accounted for total revenue of an estimated $3 billion that could potentially grow to $250 billion according to McKinsey and Company, one of the leading global management consulting firms. The biggest portion of the revenue pie has been in the “virtual health care” segment, where patients can easily and instantly have a virtual consultation with a physician.
Difference Between Telehealth and Telemedicine
Telehealth is different from telemedicine because it refers to a broader scope of medical services than telemedicine. Telemedicine deals specifically with remote clinical services. However, telehealth can also refer to non-clinical remote services, such as provider training and continuing medical education, in addition to clinical services.
| Telehealth | Telemedicine |
| Telehealth is a significant wellness industry that focuses on clinical and non-clinical remote services. | Telemedicine is just one part of the larger telehealth industry. |
| This is not just a physician and patient conversation. | This is restricted to physician-patient conversation. |
| This includes services provided by Healthcare Workers (HCWs), Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), educators, pharmacists, and Frontline workers (FLWs). | HCPs are the only type of worker from the list that is deemed vital. |
| Telehealth includes a wide range of lab test reports and other forms of health education. | Telemedicine only applies to digital modes of service provided by physicians. |
| Telehealth service providers can help patients with chronic diseases participate in their treatment | Only extends the physician’s reach |
What You Really Need To Know
There is no denying that telehealth has modernized the delivery of needed healthcare to patients. Practices have integrated telehealth services and technologies to effectively reach and care for their patients. There is no better time than now to invest and build capabilities in improving remote coordinated services while providing value-based care. Telehealth will continue to revolutionize care delivery at scale. Practices willing to evolve and transform their care delivery model will gain much with telehealth services.
In a nutshell, when it comes to telehealth and telemedicine, what you really need to know is that you can exponentially grow your medical practice business while offering high-quality care to your patients.
