Telehealth is on the rise in popularity due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine, telehealth, and overall remote patient monitoring force healthcare services to be delivered without the patient's physical presence at a healthcare facility. Due to these forced changes and new economy oversights, the face of healthcare and its operators are drastically changing.

A Shift In Healthcare Services

As Livestream video demand increases, brick-and-mortar facilities could be facing trouble in the future. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals who required routine and non-critical needs were guided to make appointments using hyperlinks. Although the current healthcare shift is convenient, that does not necessarily mean the present circumstances are better.

Some of the good news is patients do not have to wait for months to be seen by appointment, and the need to stay in overcrowded waiting rooms is no longer an issue. While patients are excited about these changes, reality sets in when individuals realize, their co-pays remain the same.

Driving Change Is A Necessity

To get a general idea of where current healthcare is headed, look back at what happened during the Tuberculosis Care starting from 1980 to 2020. The '90s were the days of wall-mounted vides phones to make the need for treatment and care more accessible and more convenient. With more innovative technology, such as FaceTime and Skype, different healthcare security standards were achieved.

Increase of Healthtech Investments

Although many of these healthcare changes make receiving it more convenient, this does not mean all types of healthcare will be delivered through technology only. Using innovative technology to drive effective and efficient delivery of healthcare services, Heal reinvents the primary care house call.

Impact on Most Businesses

Due to the current healthcare changes, every business is a healthcare business, which means companies need to expect yet another shift in employee-funded programs.

Changing for the Better

While most of these changes are great, the changes are not happening quickly enough for everyone to benefit, including high-risk patients, including patients who have depression, immunocompromised organ transplant recipients, addiction, pediatric asthma, and similar conditions. We can only hope and wish the COVID-19 pandemic dissipates, but all of the tremendous changes and growth in healthcare remain the same.

As people seek to heed the call to stay home and abate COVID-19, telemedicine's role in providing healthcare for children can become apparent. Telehealth enables parents to seek healthcare services for their children without necessarily making physical visits for face-to-face services. Through these virtual visits, pediatricians can perform some tests, treatments, and, where necessary, refer patients for more advanced care.

How Does Telemedicine Work?

To employ this technology, both the patient and doctor must have compelling video and audio sources. This means that telemedicine visits can be carried out over any device that has a webcam. Therefore, telephones, laptops, and computers can be used. To further enhance telemedicine visit effectiveness, there should be minimal or no distractions. The room where the child is should be well lit and private. A parent should also be within if the doctor needs help conducting a physical assessment on the child.

Are There Cases When Telemedicine is Not Suitable?

There is increased support for telemedicine in delivering patient care not only because of the risks caused by COVID-19 but also because this approach to healthcare delivery has proven viable for the future. Therefore, where suitable, available, and appropriate, pediatricians use telemedicine visits to guarantee continued care access. However, parents should note that if their child has alarming symptoms such as high fevers in infants or experiencing difficulty breathing, a face-to-face visit is essential. Physical visits should also be made if a child requires more detailed testing and exam than virtual visits.

What Should a Parent Consider?

If a parent needs to shift to telemedicine for their child's healthcare service, they should, first, confirm with their pediatrician about the availability of such services. The pediatrician will also advise whether a virtual visit is a good idea for different children since they know their patients' (children) health history. If a parent seeks virtual visit services from a new doctor, it is essential to cross-check the examiner's accreditations, qualifications, and credentials. As technology permeates our lives in dimensions previously unfathomable, it has and will continue to transform child healthcare delivery through telemedicine.

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC has caught players in the medical field by surprise. Many neurologists, have seen variously suspected and COVID-19 patients complain of new or escalating headaches. Luckily, telemedicine has received a boost from private insurers, federal and state laws that enable neurologists to handle patients using telemedicine. Before the emergence of coronavirus, neurologists could only use telemedicine to treat people who had a stroke or live in rural areas. Before the emergence of the virus, many neurologists were reluctant to adopt telemedicine in my practice since they thought it would not have a better experience than an in-person encounter with a patient. Many neurologists are now convinced that this is the future of modern medicine.

Here's why: Patients who live in far-flung areas with few specialists can now access quality care. Most patients who suffer from chronic migraines and prefer telemedicine than having to walk into the clinic. Research has shown that telemedicine is as useful as in-person visits and is cost-effective.
Some medical institutions and practices might experience a challenge due to cost limitations and electronic records not being integrated. Multistate providers may also suffer from a lack of standard policies among states.

Due to the rising cases of infections and fatalities from the disease, it is critical to enact telemedicine laws. This will enable patients who have exhausted their sick days to receive medical care without missing work.
Today, many essential workers, including nurses, teachers, and police officers, have to be at home to care for their children. African Americans, Hispanics, and others with low socioeconomic statuses, already suffering from persistent health inequalities, may be disproportionately burdened by lost work time due to coronavirus.

It is estimated that virtual health care services will hit 1 billion by the end of 2020. Significant investment in time and resources are being made in harnessing the power of telemedicine in clinical services. The management of chronic diseases and future pandemics will be revolutionized by legislation that supports the use of telemedicine into the future, including the Helping Ensure Access to Local TeleHealth Act of 2020.