Everyone, regardless of their involvement with the health care industry, knows that hospitals and health systems have started to switch to telemedicine programs. Health advisors, consultants and specialist are easily available online. Cloud-based physicians are more common than you’d think. This new concept has the potential to increase access to healthcare and improve its quality at the same time decreasing the costs involved.
The primary implementation of this should be done in the hospitals and health systems situated in rural areas. Telemedicine is very convenient there due to the constraints in population, area and accessibility. Travel times, lack of specialists and less number hospitals are the prime reason for the implementation. This
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It can be a challenging task. Here, we look into the 4 common challenges that are often seen and address them.
Challenge One- Administrative Engagement:
It is possible that not every member of the administrative team sees the value of the concept and finds it to be a costly and tedious process. Also, not every patient is paying for the telemedicine services, so it becomes difficult for some health care system executives to see the value of the proposition. However, Dr. Watson explains how this can be handled. The telemedicine value can be explained in two ways:
1. The consumer electronics market has given physicians all the tools they need. Which can be difficult for the patients to operate. However, both physicians and patients know how to use cell phones, video chat or text message. This can be used to train individuals to incorporate the use of telemedicine tools in their daily
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No physician would be willing to deal with a malpractice suit due mistreatment because of a disconnection. This can result in the patient following a wrong treatment regimen. However, state-of-the-art equipment could help resolve that issue. A robust platform and internet connection are a must for telemedicine. Once a stable internet connection is established, it can be used to train hospital staff through applications which would also help in finding and resolving issues with the connection. Even with a strong infrastructure, problems can still occur. Regular test runs and trained hospital staff could ensure a better provision of healthcare service.
Challenge Four- Sustainability:
The main issue with sustainability would be if the hospital is able to maintain telemedicine services once it is implemented. The willingness of payers to reimburse the costs would also be a factor. But this can be overcome by demonstrating the value of telemedicine to them.
Dr. Watson says that the best way to guarantee the value of the telemedicine program is to talk to people who have the experience. It is crucial to understand what telemedicine is and how it works. Discussions about the implementation process should be carried out with practitioners who have successfully implemented telemedicine. Also, a buy-in from all levels of the hospitals would be easier and it is more likely to increase successful