Conferring with specialists by phone has long been a common practice by doctors.

Discussions between primary care physicians and specialists have been common for decades. Medicare has long offered services for patients located in remote areas where access to the medical care requires long-distance travel. And patients with established histories with family doctors have often consulted with nurses by phone to determine if an office visit should be scheduled.

The broadband and telecommunications technology necessary for virtual face-to-face interaction and for easy sharing of information has been around for years. People regularly Skype or FaceTime with loved ones, or share interesting photos with their phones. Yet using these communication marvels for accessing medical care has been rare up until recently. Primary reasons why telemedicine has been slow to adapt to technological progress include:

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• Privacy and security concerns
  
• State licensing of doctors and prohibitions on treating out-of-state patients except in the office
  
• Lack of reimbursement standards for telemedicine by patients and insurers
  

But things are changing, and telemedicine is reaching critical mass in the US. Here’s why.

Driving Forces: Legislators Taking Interest 

Lawmakers on the state and federal level are taking greater interest in telemedicine as they realize how much money can be saved through telemedicine technology. Sweeping legislation hasn’t happened yet, but legislators at least realize the necessity of addressing issues like state licensing of doctors and telemedicine services for patients who happen to live across state lines.

Medicare, which is administered on the federal level, has been slower to adapt than Medicaid, which is administered by states. But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Studies (CMS) has been working on changing the rules for reimbursement for Medicare services delivered by telemedicine. Besides being potentially life-saving for rural patients, Medicare services delivered by telemedicine offer tremendous benefits for patients without major transportation issues. Medicare is slowly coming around as data concerning financial and patient outcome benefits mounts.

Insurers Are Working Out Reimbursement Plans 

Insurers are trying to shift from the traditional fee-for-services reimbursement plans toward outcome-based reimbursement, and telemedicine is proving greatly beneficial for this. When a patient can take a picture of a rash, for example, and quickly forward it to his primary care physician, both doctor and patient could potentially avoid the time and money investment of an in-office visit.

Insurers are also working with employers to offer telemedicine options to enrolled employees. With these options, patients can consult via secure video conferencing with healthcare providers, often addressing minor illnesses and injuries remotely. Doctors can even prescribe certain medications remotely. The result is employees who take less time off work addressing minor medical issues, less crowded doctors’ offices, less driving, and lower expenses all around.

A Primary Force: Relationship-Based Medicine

Perhaps the primary driver behind the coming tipping point in telemedicine is relationship-based medicine. Before the practice of medicine was “industrialized†by insurance companies and Medicare, medicine was relationship-based, with patients and doctors having lifelong, or even multi-generation relationships. But this type of relationship became increasingly impractical as insurance reimbursement required healthcare providers to limit time spent with patients in favor of administrative tasks associated with getting paid.

With a return to relationship-based medicine, a relationship is established in person between a doctor and patient. Later, encounters may take place via telemedicine, whether through a phone call, video conference, or email exchange. Remote visits tend to be much more convenient and efficient for both provider and patient. Common ailments can be taken care of without the need to in-process patients, prepare exam rooms, and process them out at the end of a visit. Patients can avoid spending an hour in a waiting room for a problem they’ve experienced before. Everyone saves time, money, and stress.

Relationship-based medicine also refers to what happens to patients who are released from the hospital. Medicare and state programs are increasingly holding hospitals responsible for readmission rates, and of course, patients want to avoid readmission too. Telemedicine provides means for better post-release monitoring of patients, and this has been shown to reduce hospital readmission rates.

The ultimate result is expected to be doctors who use resources in the most efficient ways to create the best patient outcomes. And the fact that telemedicine leads to cost containment is an added bonus.

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is get up and drive to the doctor’s office.

Healthcare providers can benefit from telemedicine by eliminating inefficient processes when they are not needed. Offering consultations by secure video conferencing technology can allay problems with patients arriving late, and can lower the burden on healthcare assistants who perform processes like helping patients sign in and collecting payment after a visit.

Conversely, if a telemedicine encounter reveals a more serious problem, the doctor can more efficiently arrange for in-person care, a specialist appointment, or admission to a hospital. The result is fewer obstacles between patient and care.

How Patients and their Families Benefit 

By some estimates, as many as 70% of medical encounters could be handled via telemedicine. With many minor ailments, patients know what is wrong and what has worked before. Yet getting help has traditionally involved making an appointment, sometimes waiting days to be seen by a doctor, scheduling time off work, perhaps finding a babysitter, and often waiting for long periods due to the often unpredictable nature of operations in a traditional doctor’s office. When minor ailments can be taken care of with a telemedicine encounter, getting care is quicker and far less stressful and disruptive.

In small towns and other areas where there are not many off-hours options for medical care, telemedicine can mean huge savings for the average family. A sinus infection that hits over a holiday or weekend can be handled by a $40 telemedicine visit versus as $200 urgent care visit or worse, an emergency room visit that can easily cost $1,000. It isn’t hard to see why consumers want telemedicine, and why providers, insurers, and legislators are coming together to offer it.

AccessRx.com understands the drive toward telemedicine services. With over 15 years of providing prescription medications to over half a million satisfied consumers, AccessRx.com knows that providing services at a distance can be done efficiently, cost-effectively, and without compromising patient privacy. AccessRx.com is also 100% committed to providing customers with a safe and secure online ordering experience and unequaled customer service.