While Telemedicine can be a fantastic tool, the biggest failure of telemedicine is the inability of doctors to collect a patient’s vitals. In many cases, it isn’t possible at all unless the patient has specialized equipment at hand. Doctors must rely on the patients to provide their own data, which is often guarded or misleading. This can lead to major problems down the line and potential emergent situations going unchecked. As such, it’s important for telemedicine technologists to be aware of this issue and work to mitigate it as much as possible.
You would think telemedicine was just invented a few years ago, but it has been around for decades.
You would think telemedicine was just invented a few years ago, yet it has been a well-settled technology for decades. I personally worked on Telemedicine and related applications as early as the 1990s. Since then, it has become an exceptional wellness tool of frequent and prolific adoption by both medical offices and patients alike, especially during COVID. Before COVID, there was a mess of red tape and rules about who could or could not get paid. In addition, licensure rules came into play, preventing doctors from treating anyone across a state border.
With CMS waiving rules for telemedicine at the beginning of COVID, we saw an almost 2000% increase in telemedicine adoption. This is evidenced clearly by Zoom Video Communications (Nasdaq:ZM) shares, which had an opening IPO price of $36 in 2019 and the following year hit a high of $588 before returning to the more moderate $70 mark at the beginning of 2023.
Without vital sign data, doctors often fly blind.
Without access to vital sign data, doctors risk lacking key insights when treating patients virtually. This data is often used for risk stratification and other critical decision-making processes. Without it, healthcare providers risk missing hidden information that could lead to better outcomes for their virtual patients. Working without this valuable data puts both doctor and patient at a disadvantage. In addition, these metrics can provide much-needed clarity in making informed decisions.
The reliance on patient-provided data can lead to errors and missed insights.
With limited levels of technology available in the home and office, many patients are unable to provide their own data. This can lead to potential errors and missed insights. This partially relies on a patient’s ability to accurately assess vital signs such as potential cardiac concerns, high blood pressure, and underlying chronic illnesses. Without having access to this information, physicians are hindered in their scope for providing treatment and diagnosing potential conditions.
This reliance on patient-provided data has potentially severe repercussions, making interventions more difficult or even delaying treatment altogether. Although telemedicine offers great potential in the medical community, potential issues in the accuracy of patient-provided data cannot be overlooked.
Many doctors reject telemedicine visits, but patients are demanding more access and are choosing other providers.
The demand for telemedicine visits continues to rise as patients demand the convenience it brings. This has, unfortunately, put doctors in a difficult spot. Afraid of making the wrong decision without vital signs data. Many providers have been overly cautious and reject telemedicine visits because of this issue. But with better insights such as consent forms, patient questionnaires, and new vitals technology, doctors can feel more secure in their decision-making and offer more effective results.
There’s no doubt that patients will continue to be drawn toward providers who offer telemedicine services as more, non-traditional, disruptive companies enter the market, such as Google, Apple, and Amazon. Amazon acquired One Medical in 2022 and now offers a generic medication subscription for Prime members for just $5 a month with free delivery.
Population health is the biggest winner, which flows directly to payers, providers, and patients.
In terms of population health, the advent of telemedicine offers a revenue stream and lowers costs for payers, and providers and delivers convenience and lower costs for patients. Cost containment is an essential factor, while allowing doctors to collect the vital signs of their patients in remote areas and better manage their care.
This has had an immense impact on saving lives by offering patients greater access to care with limited resources. Ultimately, this means that population health benefits from telemedicine sessions as it will always be front and center in the minds of doctors, payers, and, most importantly, patients when it comes to achieving better outcomes.
Developing countries will benefit the most.
The U.S. and other developed countries have imposed a series of restrictive rules and regulations to control new technologies like telemedicine. However, when an emergency like COVID causes people to die at alarming rates, all the rules are waived.
In underdeveloped countries, where people dying at alarming rates is a daily occurrence, there is no infrastructure to support solutions like telemedicine, regardless of how many lives could be saved. All that is about to change. Sometimes, the benefit of having no infrastructure means new infrastructure is easier and more cost-effective to implement.
Summary
Telemedicine, while still a relatively emerging technology, has already begun to revolutionize healthcare by providing greater access and wellness options. While there are still some issues with the ability of doctors to gather vital sign data remotely before a telemedicine session and rely instead on patient-provided data, technology like Primas Remote Vitals (PRV) can use a smartphone, tablet or PC camera to collect a vitals wellness score as well as handle triage questions to provide indicators of underlying conditions.
Furthermore, it is impossible to overstate the importance of increased access when it comes to wellness options for underserved populations. All in all, telemedicine provides more immediate indicators of a person’s health status and can be instrumental in helping communities from all walks of life improve their well-being. Let us remember that a rising tide lifts all boats—by improving access and bringing healthcare to where the patient is, we can all benefit.
