Did you know that during a telehealth visit, patients spend 95% of their time face-to-face with a doctor? This differs greatly in comparison to a traditional visit. In a traditional visit, patients spend less than 20% of the time with a doctor. Mainly because most of the time is spent traveling to the site and then waiting in the waiting room to be seen.
With the proper help, you can also decrease the time they spend waiting on test results and reports. It is a common misconception that telehealth vs telemedicine is the same thing. In fact, there are many differences between both terms.
One of the key differences is how these approaches can be used to simplify and ultimately decrease the amount of work that physicians need to do. In this post, we’re going to break down the definition of the two since they are often misconstrued.
Keep reading to learn more about telehealth and telemedicine and their differences. You will also learn how support specialists can decrease result delivery times.
Telehealth vs Telemedicine: What’s the Difference?
The term “telemedicine” has been used to describe remote medical care and patient monitoring. But what exactly is telehealth? Telehealth is a subset of telemedicine that focuses on healthcare delivered by electronic means. All without an in-person visit to a doctor’s office or clinic.
The main difference is that telemedicine refers directly to remote clinical services. Telehealth, however, will refer to remote non-clinical services. Telehealth vs. telemedicine is simply clinical vs. non-clinical.
Here’s a better breakdown of the differences. Telehealth refers to the use of technology to deliver health care services at a distance. Telemedicine refers to the use of technology to provide medical diagnosis and treatment over a distance.
In other words, telehealth can be used for general check-ups and preventive care. Telemedicine can be used for more serious conditions that require a form of treatment.
How do hospitals and practices work within the two? And most importantly, which is better for your business to focus on? Here’s a good way to look at it, because there is a difference.
Telehealth is basically using technology to connect patients with doctors remotely. This can be done through video conferencing, phone calls, or even email. Telemedicine, on the other hand, involves providing actual medical care through technology.
This includes diagnosing and treating patients online, as well as prescribing medication. Additionally, you don’t have to choose between one or the other. When you have a comprehensible, cloud-based solution to use within your workflow, you can easily work within both capacities.
So which one should you choose for your practice? It really depends on what you need. If you just want to connect with a doctor, telehealth is probably the most suited.
But if you want to offer a more comprehensive service, including diagnosing and prescribing medication, then telemedicine might be the right choice for your practice.
Telehealth and Telemedicine in Depth
Telehealth is the use of technology to deliver health care services at a distance. This can include providing real-time video consultations, e-visits, and phone or email consultations.
Its main benefit is that it can increase the efficiency of patient workflow. Health specialists can speed up this process and alleviate a large amount of work from physicians and other clinical staff. If you think of care prioritization, triaging patient cases, and care delivery, telehealth can be used as a great way to produce a faster flow of patient care and treatment results.
From a physician’s standpoint, it is also possible to use telehealth as an assessment and diagnostic tool. When making decisions about treatment plans many practices want the simplicity of having finalized reports delivered in a timely fashion to ordering or attending physicians. That’s how Specialist Direct started to change the pattern of reports needing to be finalized or have an initial review.
The goal of telemedicine companies is to increase the usage of technology. Mainly, to provide medical diagnosis and treatment over a distance. In telemedicine visits, doctors can see and assess patients using cameras and other devices. This is where additional support comes into the workflow as you can easily eliminate additional groundwork.
How Does Pathology Fit Into Telehealth and Medicine?
Telepathology is the use of a type of communications technology. That technology is what’s used to provide remote pathology services. The same could be for having results and reports delivered for you. This can include performing diagnostic tests or consulting with experts about diagnoses
Telepathology can be used in both telehealth and telemedicine settings. It has been shown to improve patient care. This is done by allowing for faster diagnosis and more accurate treatment plans.
How Do Physicians Benefit From Using Support Specialists?
Technology has impacted every aspect of our lives. As we can see, the healthcare industry is no exception. In fact, technology has revolutionized the way we deliver healthcare. From urgent care to electronic health records (EHRs). Technology is making it easier than ever for patients to access quality care when they need it most.
Physicians’ practices can benefit from using support specialists in a number of ways. Your practice can free up time and resources to focus on more important matters. This is possible by outsourcing administrative and clerical tasks. They’re outsourced to a specialist firm with trained healthcare specialists.
Additionally, a support specialist can help your practice stay compliant with regulations. They can also help maintain quality assurance standards. This can be beneficial to practices that need fast turnaround times for final reports.
The same is true for result delivery and physician-to-physician transferring. Practices that utilize health specialists often see significant decreases in wait times. There is also a decrease in physician collaboration as well.
The benefits of technology in healthcare are clear. By using technology and the help from qualified support specialists, we are able to provide quality care to more people than ever before.
Learn More on the Future of Healthcare
Specialist Direct focuses on providing solutions for telehealth, start to finish. Our services include teleradiology, telepathology, and telecardiology. Excellent clinical care and efficient turnaround times for results are our priorities.
That’s why we aim to help healthcare professionals to make this part of their day-to-day routines. Now you have a better understanding of telehealth vs telemedicine. You also know more about how support specialists can make your workflow more simple.
This should give you a better way to direct your patient care plans. If you are looking for more information on how our telehealth service options can help you, click here to contact us.