What Are the Three Major Ways Telehealth Services Are Delivered?

Telemedicine is defined as the delivery of health services to patients remotely, with the help of technology. It enables text messaging, video, or phone appointments between patients and a healthcare provider, facilitating convenient and faster access to healthcare services. Virtual visits save patients the hassle of driving to a doctor’s clinic or a hospital and then sit for long hours in the waiting room, especially when one is sick. Providers can ask some basic screening questions over the phone and diagnose most common health conditions.

Some benefits of virtual medical care include:

• 24/7 access to medical care
• Avoid the risk of catching new illnesses from going to a hospital or a clinic
• Eliminating the stress of having to worry about caring for a family member at home, while you’re away for the appointment
• Eliminating travel time
• Improved access to specialists
• Improved health outcomes
• On-demand physician options
• Patient-centred approach
• Reduced cost of care
• Skip waiting rooms

The Three Major Ways of Delivery:

Telehealth services are delivered and facilitated in three major ways to help patients navigate through health challenges in their daily lives –

1. Store-and-forward

The store-and-forward telehealth service delivery model reduces the need for the patient to meet their healthcare provider in-person, to achieve a successful treatment outcome. The patient’s health data such as medical images, bio signals, etc are collected, stored, or shared electronically among healthcare providers, for them to effectively treat patients. The store-and-forward method can mostly be observed in the fields of dermatology, endocrinology, radiology, and pathology.

Pros and Cons:

• Quick delivery of specialist reports
• Enables patients to access specialist care easily with the help of technology
• Saves time for specialists while treating their patients
• Promotes collaboration among healthcare providers
• Technology constraints 
• Incomplete information
• May result in delayed in diagnosis or treatment
• Remote Monitoring

In remote monitoring, patients can monitor their health with the help of various technological devices such as blood pressure cuffs, glucometer, pulse oximeter, activity trackers, etc. This form of telehealth service is most popular in patients dealing with chronic health conditions including cardiovascular diseases, blood pressure, diabetes, and respiratory diseases. The self-monitoring devices can be used by the patients to record and keep a track of their vitals. Their healthcare providers can then obtain the data with a certain biosensor, and plan for treatment options with the help of their medical reports.

Pros and Cons:

• Improves patient self-management
• Improves access to healthcare
• Helps during medical staff shortages
• Builds patient engagement
• Impacts patient readmission rates
• Patient data might be affected with improper use
• Reliability on new software for management of patient health records 
• Real-time Telemedicine

Real-time telemedicine, also called as ‘live telemedicine’ is a form of telehealth that involves a live two-way interaction between a patient and a healthcare provider that happens through telephone calling, video conferencing, etc. This is popular among primary healthcare, urgent care, and chronic condition management settings where medical history assessments, visual evaluations, psychiatric check-ups, etc are done in real-time. These interactions are designed to protect patient privacy by using secure technology, to help provide a more efficient and convenient form of healthcare to patients.

Pros and Cons:

• Improves accessibility to healthcare
• Extended access to specialist referrals
• Increases patient engagement
• Insurance coverages
• Technological barriers

Book your virtual medical visit with an Ontario Healthcare Provider 7-days a week through Meira Care, from the comfort and safety of your home. 

Also, Read:

Ultimate Guide : What Can Be Diagnosed With A Virtual Visit?

Is Telemedicine Clinic Actually More Affordable?

Who is Provide Mental Health Care Online