How to Overcome Roadblocks in Telemedicine Development ?

Even before the onset of the global coronavirus pandemic, healthcare facilities and medical centres in the nation and across the globe have been implementing telemedicine onto their healthcare systems. Web-based medical professionals, virtual health consults, live video conferencing with specialists and telemedicine hospital rooms have become increasingly common. Telemedicine and Telehealth, in the broader scope, have a significant potential to drastically change and improve quality of care and decrease costs while also increasing access to quality healthcare.

Medical health centres and hospitals, in rural and semi-urban areas, have been majorly implementing telemedicine due to the needs of the growing population and geographical constraints. Telemedicine development has vastly improved the quality of healthcare and provided increased access to specialists in smaller and rural health facilities. Despite the significant benefits and advantages offered by telemedicine there are still challenges and obstacles faced by healthcare facilities and hospitals.

White label telemedicine solutions from companies such as SISGAIN have made it possible to deliver quality healthcare with convenience and seamless, uninterrupted technology. SISGAIN promises to deliver high quality, robust and dynamic software that is enriched in technology and adds value to the entire industry. SISGAIN’s mission is to provide dynamic, robust and superior technology to clients using innovative and cost-efficient ideas to deliver absolute customer satisfaction. Top quality developers aim to revolutionize the industry by facilitating innovation and change and provide excellent services.

Telemedicine: challenges and how to address them

• 1. Administrative engagement

Telemedicine implementation process is expensive and quite arduous and not every executive administrator may be in favour of the process. The use of telemedicine is fairly simple provided patients have a stable and fast internet connection and a smartphone or a desktop. Medical professionals and patients, alike, have the knowledge of how to use an application on their smartphones thus making it easier for them to choose telemedicine over traditional healthcare visits.

• 2. Infrastructure

It is always important to have the most efficient and cutting-edge technology at hospitals and medical health facilities to provide quality healthcare without any interruptions or sudden loss of the internet. Telemedicine, when implemented on strong and advanced platforms, provides a dynamic and more robust experience so that healthcare provider’s do not lose connection while being on a live video conference. A vast telemedicine  software implementation requires a stable internet connection to train the healthcare workers and staff and not run into any sort of problem.  

• 3. Patients’ lack of technical skills

Younger patients or teenagers know how to use the internet and the applications on their smartphones and laptops quite well but that is not the case for all the other patients who lack any understanding of technical abilities. If the patients do not know how to use the telemedicine services then it leads to a reduction in utilization and can hamper their accessibility. A survey of all patients should be done asking which device they are more comfortable using for telemedicine services.

• 4. Reimbursement

It can prove to be problematic for healthcare providers and medical professionals to receive reimbursements for their telemedicine app development services since Medicare offers the coverage of telemedicine reimbursement but with limitations. Reimbursement can be provided to patients who have been suffering for at least one or more years with any chronic diseases. An important tool to keep track of all the expenses has to be kept up to date with all the required receipts to allow reimbursements.

•  5. Lack of integration

Healthcare providers and medical facilities have to use electronic health records that correspond and coordinate with the telehealth software systems services platform so that the workflow doesn’t get complicated. A telemedicine platform that integrates well with the existing electronic health records secures the patients’ virtual visits and properly documents the information for future reference.