Today, healthcare providers and patients both are facing chronic diseases across the country. According to research 6 in 10 adults in the US have a chronic disease and management of these diseases continues to be one of the biggest challenges. Just about 7 chronic diseases, namely diabetes, cancer, hypertension, heart disease, pulmonary conditions, stroke, and mental illness are contributing a total impact on the US economy of close to $1.3 trillion annually.
As these disorders continue to impact healthcare systems across the US, hence providers are now looking at ways they can improve chronic disease management, without negatively impacting the quality of care being delivered. But the question remains the same “How?” The answer is “Telemedicine”.
Telemedicine is the practice of medicine using technology to deliver care at a distance. A physician in one location uses a telecommunications infrastructure to deliver care to a patient at a distant site. Similarly, in the case of chronic disease management physicians and specialists can use mobile devices, live audio, and video, mHealth apps, and other smart digital tools to monitor a patient’s condition at any given point of time irrespective of location.
In this brief, you are getting more insights about various ways to transform the chronic disease management landscape with the help of telemedicine and improving outcomes for patients suffering from these diseases.
Patients with chronic diseases are looking to get treatment from specialized care while treating their symptoms. However, it is hard to find a specialized care provider in certain parts of the country, making it that much harder for them to see their care provider regularly. Moreover, traveling long distances is yet another challenge for chronic disease patients as they may suffer from a lack of mobility or have trouble sitting still for long periods. But today technology is solving these challenges via telemedicine.
Today patients can connect with care providers, including specialists, from the comfort of their own home with the help of telemedicine. The rising use of telemedicine ensures access to specialized care with minimal cost. Some patients need to visit a physician periodically and their condition gets worse if they fail to see their care provider, but telemedicine can make it easier for patients to get the care they need.
Due to the rise of covid-19 Telemedicine technology is adopted by many healthcare providers and hence these telemedicine platforms and apps are rapidly helping healthcare organizations to offer care in a cost-efficient way to rural regions for managing chronic conditions right from the comfort of their homes.
Remote patient monitoring which is an application of telemedicine is the collection of data on personal health and medicine from an individual in one location, which is transmitted via electronic communication technologies to a provider in a different location for use in care and related support. In the case of chronic diseases like diabetes, physicians can now also monitor the patient’s blood sugar levels remotely. Digital glucometer machines that transmit the patient’s blood sugar levels to the physician daily can help them in formulating an optimal treatment plan remotely.
When patients living with chronic conditions can change their lifestyle like changes in diet, quitting smoking, and getting more exercise then only they will see better results, but some patients may have trouble following through on these kinds of treatment regimens which impacts negatively on their health.
With the help of remote patient monitoring care providers can monitor treatment guidelines of patients. If a patient has been overeating and not getting enough exercise, the doctor might have the patient step on a Bluetooth scale to see how their weight has changed. Doctors can use mobile devices and live video and audio to quickly remind patients to take their medication, eat healthily, or find ways to stay active, improving the patient's chances of recovery.
One study finds that patients with chronic illnesses account for more than 81% of all hospital admissions. However, telemedicine ensures better management of patient's treatment, considerably mitigating the risk of them having to be readmitted to the hospital. Hence telemedicine can easily improve outcomes for immune-compromised patients. Every practitioner can use telemedicine for the medication of their patient and treatment of new symptoms keeping hospital readmission rates as low as possible.
Finally, Healthcare organizations need to leverage various technologies to deliver care simultaneously and be on the lookout for ways to augment its functionality with time. If you want to grow with telemedicine, you can get in touch with us. We can help you in your medical billing and coding operations so that you can focus on patient care delivery.
