What is Telehealthcare?

The Internet has radically transformed the way people today live their lives. From how they procure the things they need and communicate with their loved ones, to how they access and process information and run their businesses, the continuous evolution of technology has transcended, changed, and more often than not improved many aspects of life in modern-day society. In recent years, technology and especially internet, SMS and smartphones have broken new ground in the way healthcare is delivered to the world’s populations. This pattern is particularly true in Asia and Africa, where underdevelopment has prevented communities from accessing prompt and quality health services. Among policymakers and medical practitioners alike, improving the level of medical care and attention in these regions is a top concern in health management and disease prevention, as are educating the people on, how to manage their health and better prevent contracting diseases in the course of their lives. Telehealth may provide a robust means of providing much needed healthcare to people in need and providing healthcare-focused educational materials to help them keep themselves well. Examples of successful applications of telehealth include clinical and educational programs delivered to patients living with congestive heart failure which will provide a snapshot of the headway achieved by concerted efforts to use telehealth to avoid re-hospitalizations, save money, and help keep patients living with chronic diseases stable in their health status and avoiding the serious adverse health events that can occur with unmanaged chronic conditions.Telehealth DefinitionTelehealth involves the use of digital information and communications technologies to deliver healthcare services, with the ultimate goal of overcoming geographical and physical barriers and improving the management of people’s health and well-being. It employs many different technologies such as telephone, voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), facsimile, email, video conferencing, virtual file sharing, SMS, and remote monitoring devices among other tools, used for assessing not only patients’ health care status but also delivering healthcare services and health education to them.There are many varying definitions of telehealth. It is a constantly evolving science with wide applications and flexibility to adapt to changes in the healthcare industry. However, its main ethos lies in the delivery of health services across distances. This purpose lies in its very name- the prefix tele, is taken from the Greek telos, which denotes distance.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Health Resources and Services Administration defines telehealth as “the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration.”Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines telehealth as: “The delivery of health care services, where distance is a critical factor, by all healthcare professionals using information and communication technologies for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation, and for the continuing education of health care providers, all in the interests of advancing the health of individuals and their communities.” The general application of telehealth can use information transferred in either real-time or store-and-forward (time-shifted) modes.  Real-time telehealth delivery and sessions means that the two parties involved in the communication are connected to the same medium at the same time. Real-time telecommunications can be in the form of a live consultation between physician and patient, or a web-conference between a specialist and medical students. Store-and-forward communication, on the other hand, involves the collection of data typically over a period of time before sending them to a dedicated site’s recipient for processing and analysis. This stored and forwarded information can come in the form of educational materials that can be sent to targeted communities for future consumption, or they can be patients’ test results, such as radiographs, that are sent to doctors for diagnosis or analysis.Both of these approaches can be combined to develop solutions that would allow for more sophisticated health monitoring at home, thereby reducing the need for patients, particularly those living with chronic diseases or conditions, to travel distances to clinics and hospitals. The tele-delivered materials may also serve to supplement educational materials used by nursing professionals that do home visits. One conceivable limitation of telehealth is the availability of technology that allows for the collection and transfer of medical information especially as it related to gathering physical specimens or to examining a patient in person. For these purposes, there are increasingly sophisticated health IT systems available such as Electronic Health Records, Computerized Decision Support Systems, and radiology and other diagnostic equipment, among other means to collect data from patients living at a distance from health centers. More specialized systems are still being developed today, and should help improve telehealth services and widen its reach.  Equipping remote locations to receive such transmissions has been a hurdle; and it is slowly being addressed.Some of the tops companies that offer telehealth services are:HExLRichard (Rick) Kimball Jr. is CEO and Founder of HExL. HExL enables independent primary physicians to transform their practices financially and clinically to drive better health outcomes, lower costs and improve accessibility. We offer a turnkey technology enabled service enabling primary care physicians to enter into value based reimbursement programs and to be paid for keeping patients healthy. Read more about Richard (Rick) Kimball on YPO.  Richard Kimball is a contributory author on TheStreet.com.Evolent HealthFrank Williams is CEO and Co-Founder. Evolent provides the integrated technology, tools and team to advance value-based care. Our work begins with the Blueprint, an immediately actionable strategic roadmap that defines target markets, assesses needed clinical and operational capabilities, and is supported by a detailed business case.Health Care PartnersKent Thiry is CEO. HealthCare Partners has been committed to developing innovative models of healthcare delivery that improve our patients' quality of life while containing healthcare costs. Our strength is in our steadfast commitment to our guiding principle of coordinated care. Our physicians strive daily to bring the benefits of coordinated care to more than 600,000 managed care patients in California, who represent the diversity of cultures, socioeconomic groups, ages, and health statuses in the communities we serve.