COVID- has illustrated the critical infrastructure needs within the overall healthcare system in the United States. The ability to provide relevant healthcare services in an affordable and convenient manner are not only critical to individuals but also to the national security interests of the nation. Pandemics, although rare, can have a debilitating impact on society. As we have seen throughout history, these pandemics can cripple operations, results in high levels of death, and shutter businesses. All of these occurred during the pandemic as nearly 540,000 people have died to date. In addition, millions of individuals lost their jobs, livelihoods and income due to inadequate healthcare infrastructure. In addition, healthcare expenditure trends that were occurring prior to the pandemic show no signs of abating. Currently, healthcare expenditures account for roughly 18% of US GDP or $3.6 Trillion. On a per capita basis, these expenditures are the highest in the world at roughly $11,000 per person. By 2028 healthcare costs are expected to account for 1 out of every 5 dollars of GDP or roughly $18,000 per person. Currently the median household income is roughly $68,000 according to the census bureau. As such, healthcare costs account for roughly 16% of household income. This trajectory is simply unsustainable particular as healthcare trends overall do not seem to be abating. Chart 1 below indicates the rise in healthcare cost since 1962
Chart 1
These healthcare trends to do appear to be abating due primary to the demographics prevailing in the market today. For one, the overall population is becoming much older and living longer. As such they will demand additional healthcare services over a longer duration. Baby boomers have been a critical element to the profitability of the overall healthcare industry. Baby boomers have large amounts of discretionary income, they are also living longer and will therefore demand healthcare services. As they have a lower amount of time to live, they are less price sensitive and are willing to pay premium prices for healthcare services. These trends create significant headwinds of the industry as it has a large, wealth, and captive audience.
Telemedicine is a solution to many of the trends presented above. It helps to provide a lower cost solution that can ultimately bring down costs of healthcare treatment. Telemedicine can also be delivered during a pandemic which makes it particularly useful during periods of massive social and economic unrest. The service quality is similar if not better for many routine checkups or procedures thus saving time and for all stakeholders involved. Finally, telemedicine helps to reduce absenteeism due to cancelations as individuals can utilize services from the comfort of their own home (Alleman, 2002).
The global telemedicine industry is roughly $20B dollars. In...
…to diagnose ailments via video consultations, and it recently closed a $21 million Series A round led by Venrock. In this instance, the competitor has name recognition, a strong business plan, and is backed by a well-established financier. In addition, competitors are also using telemedicine to establish their own networks to bring telehealth programs to the market. American Well is looking to provide its customers with convenient access to medical care, and services that extend beyond urgent care to include chronic care management and post-surgical follow up. There are many other competitors with various business models that are compelling to consumers. As the industry is growing rapidly, more entrants are entering the market (Abbass, 2011). AZ general hospital has a distinct competitive advantage over the above product offerings as it will have both an in-person and online component. Some customers still want an entirely in-person experience. As such, many of the above competitors can not provide this service and will therefore loss market share to competitors that can. In addition, AZ general hospital has a diversified range of services that can only be offered in-person. Competitors who are solely online have a limited amount of services they can provide to customers. With, AZ general hospital we can provide better services and a broader array of services, while still offering telemedicine to those who demand it. This combination of…
References:
1. Abbass, A., Arthey, S., Elliott, J., Fedak, T., Nowoweiski, D., Markovski, J., & Nowoweiski, S. (2011). Web-conference supervision for advanced psychotherapy training: A practical guide. Psychotherapy, 48(2), 109–118. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022427
2. Abney, P. C., & Maddux, C. D. (2004). Counseling and technology: Some thoughts about the controversy. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 22(3), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1300/J017v22n03_01
3. Alleman, J. R. (2002). Online counseling: The Internet and mental health treatment. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 39(2), 199-209. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-3204.39.2.199
4. Aoki, N., Dunn, K., Johnson-Throop, K. A., & Turley, J. P. (2003). Outcomes and methods in telemedicine evaluation. Telemedicine Journal and e-Health, 9(4), 393-401. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/153056203772744734
Telemedicine: Will telemedicine improve the quality of healthcare and its delivery for remotely located advanced healthcare para-professionals? The basic purpose of this study is to discuss whether telemedicine will improve the quality of health care and it's delivery for remotely located advanced health care para-professionals. The scope of the study is over seeing as it covers the implication of implementation of telemedicine as a professional genre. It would also show how the
The greater availability of patient records can make it easier to create false claims, through electronic tampering. This is yet another risk of telemedicine, which must be guarded against through encryption and proper security infrastructure. Selling patient information to external entities? People with long-term diseases like diabetes, or even those only genetically predisposed to genetic conditions, could be denied job opportunities or refused health insurance "if information stolen from data banks
Barring this, however, clinics can still offer doctors incentives to come to underserved areas. First of all, doctors can be offered greater autonomy in dispensing patient care than the burdensome oversight they might experience in a large hospital. Less bureaucracy, less red tape, and a less punishing schedule are all reasons that doctors might wish to relocate to a rural area to work in a clinic. In contrast to
Patients also benefit as they can now access healthcare and treatment without having to visit the hospital physically. Telemedicine is cost effective as patients reduce their visits to hospitals. A hospital visit will involve travelling, and having to wait in lines for long hours, but using telemedicine a patient can record their symptoms and forward them to the healthcare professional. The patient will then continue with their daily routine as
Telemedicine Some of the traditional barriers to health care have been eliminated or reduced by the use of technology that helps deliver health care to patients from a distance. This is defined as telemedicine. According to the American Telemedicine Association, telemedicine is defined thus: "the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve a patient's clinical health status." ("What is Telemedicine," 2016). There are a
Telemedicine: How does it impact patient care? Introduction The modern health care system is better and considerably more complex than what the situation previously was a decade and several decades ago. According to various researchers, the modern health care system is a managed one, and it widely uses technology in contrast to previous health care systems (Conklin, 2002). The many uses of technology in the modern health care system include the use
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now