No hospital near you? No problem, let the hospital go to you.

Slowly but surely, a dichotomy is being created in the world of healthcare in the United States: the new home-based medical care model versus the traditional hospital-centric model. This is all thanks to the development of telemedicine over the past two decades, which gives us the technology to access home based healthcare, as well as post-operative and palliative care.

Telemedicine specifically targets the elderly and rural population out of necessity. $80 billion from the United States government is dedicated to home health care; and 70% of all global home healthcare is focused on geriatrics.

(Jeremy Waltner/Associated Press)

 The U.S. rural population on the other hand has shortage of primary and emergency care physicians, who are the first line of medical defense in rural areas. This lack of medical personnel who can provide proper care is a universal dilemma for all rural health. Furthermore, the distance to the nearest hospital is also a problem. For 14 year old Peyton who is suffering from rheumatoid Arthritis  – a weekly trip of 3.5 hours each way to Kansas City where his Specialist was located felt like a trip to “the end of the earth”. Telemedicine changed this.

Telemedicine changes everything for these two populations. It provides the solutions: access to healthcare, and enabling dialogue between patients and their doctors. This not only benefits the patients, but hospitals – by lowering costs and allowing them to be more efficient through remote monitoring. But don’t take our word for it, the American Medical Association also believes that “the appropriate use of telemedicine to deliver care to patients could greatly improve access and quality of care, while maintaining patient safety.”

CaptureProof has great potential in rural and geriatric health – because it offers more than just the synchronous (think Skype call with your doctor) communication – it is the Visual Voicemail for medicine. It is an easy and secure way to share medical chat, photos and video – right at the fingertips of your doctor. CaptureProof transforms the mobile device into a tool so patients can show-and-tell, and doctors can see-and-know.

Sources:
1. The Economic Times: “Telemedicine: Startups bring the doctor and hospital home” http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/emerging-businesses/startups/telemedicine-startups-bring-the-doctor-and-hospital-home/articleshow/36286165.cms
2. FierceHealthcare: “Rural hospitals face physician recruitment, telemedicine challenges” http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/rural-hospitals-face-physician-recruitment-telemedicine-challenges/2014-06-06
3. Missoulian: “Rural clinics increasingly turn to telemedicine” http://missoulian.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/screen-saver-rural-clinics-increasingly-turn-to-telemedicine/article_c9063704-f0b5-11e3-9f60-0019bb2963f4.html
4. The Joplin Globe: “Joplin, Kansas City hospitals add telemedicine to pediatric specialties” http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1396884066/Joplin-Kansas-City-hospitals-add-telemedicine-to-pediatric-specialties
5. Digital Journal: “AMA adopts policy supporting the coverage of and the reimbursement for telemedicine” http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1981253

#Telemedicine #HealthTech #Healthcare #RuralHealth #Geriatrics #CaptureProof #SHOWandTELL #SEEandKNOW #MedicalMedia