Telehealth Will Become the New Healthcare

When will the ongoing and burdensome conversation of health care cost reduction end? Well, that we don’t know. But, technology seems to have found us a pretty good band-aid for the status quo.

As Dan Munro, contributor to Forbes, states, the superusers, “...are the 5% of patients - often elderly - that have multiple chronic conditions and account for up to 50% of all healthcare spending.” These are staggering numbers for a small subset of the population. Thankfully, it seems as though telehealth provides an opportunity to allow for easy access to coordinated, less expensive care, for these individuals.

A pilot program by Banner Health, targeted the “superusers” of healthcare. They piloted the program with 135 patients utilizing telemedicine technology and tablets in a partnership with Philips. The results show a “27% reduction in cost of care, 32% reduction in acute and long term care costs, and a 45% reduction in hospitalizations”.

These numbers may seem too good to be true, but, it may not be such a long shot at all. Patients don’t know what they don’t know, and often do not need to go through the trouble of physically going to a physician or hospital. So, allowing patients the opportunity to access health care professionals that they trust, can turn what would have been a prolonged visit to the hospital with potentially countless unnecessary tests and an expensive stay, into a quick telemedicine phone call or “FaceTme”.

To read more from www.forbes.com click here

David Eisenberg is currently a medical student at The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, PA, and a contributor to Medical Groups. David believes that it is critically important for physicians to not only be well rounded clinically, but also financially. In an ever changing healthcare system, David hopes to help physicians not only understand how to successfully navigate the dynamic healthcare landscape, but also how to take a leadership role in continuing to develop the medical profession that so many have diligently dedicated their life’s work to. In addition to contributing to Medical Groups, David works with thedoctorschannel.com, as well as helps to run an app for pre-med students that he co-founded, PreMD Tracker.

Follow David on twitter: @deisen3