Patients residing in rural and far off places had no or limited access to physicians. But with the advent of telemedicine practices, delivery of care is possible to any corner of the world. Thanks to telemedicine because of which physicians can offer remote care to patients such as health assessment or consultation via telecommunication infrastructure. With the help of telemedicine, doctors and patients can share medical information in real-time via HIPAA compliant video-conferencing tools. Even from far away location, physicians can care for the patient in spite of being physically absent from a particular location. It is because of technology that telemedicine has flourished over the last few years, bringing healthcare services to every patient in need. Doctors can diagnose and treat patients using telemedicine software, and patients can avail consultation services right at the comfort of their home.
There are three main categories of telemedicine, which are store-and-forward, remote patient monitoring, and interactive telemedicine:
Remote patient monitoring – This category of telemedicine enables monitoring of patients with chronic diseases in their homes using mobile medical devices. These devices then collect data on vital signs and make them available to remote caregivers for quick review.
Interactive telemedicine – In this type of care, physicians and patients communicate in real-time over telephone or video that are HIPAA compliant. Such care sessions may take place at home or in a nearby medical facility center.
Store-and-forward – Also referred to as asynchronous telemedicine, allows patients to share information like lab results with their physicians located in some other place.
