Page 18 - Telemedicine - Essentials of Virtual Care Delivery Part One

SVMIC Telemedicine: Essentials of Virtual Care Delivery

Telemedicine vs. Other e-Communication

Today’s users have a myriad of channels for connecting with
each other. The previous definitions present challenges for

determining exactly what constitute telemedicine. In fact, there
are legitimate reasons for confusion.

The differences are increasingly blurry between modalities that
fall under regulatory or payor definitions of “telemedicine” and

other forms of electronic communication used by physicians
and patients. In the early days, telemedicine implied a private

television connection, often requiring special equipment and a
dedicated network. Today, video calling capability, even across

multiple sites, essentially comes free with every cell phone
and computer. Email, texting, file and photo sharing, online

reference material, audio-video recording, and activity tracking
have obvious medical uses but are much more widely used for

social purposes. Which uses of these technologies constitute
telemedicine? Applications with both dubious and bona fide

healthcare purposes appeared early in the mobile device market
and now number in the hundreds of thousands. Even medical

records are becoming virtualized; inexorably migrating from
siloed repositories controlled by providers to multi-user, multi-

access databases in cyberspace, increasingly controlled by
patients.

Benefits and Effectiveness

It is difficult to evaluate all the potential benefits and

effectiveness of telemedicine as prior to the pandemic, it was
largely utilized for minor conditions. A virtual physician network

with several hundred practitioners lists top conditions treated
as acute bronchitis, cough, sinusitis, acute pharyngitis, acute

cystitis, urinary tract infection, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever,

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