Telehealth is a massive industry – it is already a $20 billion dollar industry and one that is expected to mushroom to $186.5 billion by 2026. Another stat to consider is that in 2019, more than 75% of hospitals in the United States used video to connect with their patients. The pandemic has been ushering a rise of telehealth visits – in the first quarter of 2020 alone, there were over 1.6 million telehealth visits. Let’s learn more about the booming business of telemedicine below.
What is the difference between telemedicine and telehealth? Telemedicine gives a medical professional the ability to offer remote clinical services. Telemedicine can be used to diagnose conditions, screen for different symptoms, provide mental health services, and offer a degree of low risk urgent care. It comes as a big support to nursing home staff as well as specialist consultations. Telehealth is less far reaching – offering remote non-clinical services. A medical professional through telehealth would be able to fill medication, offer chronic condition support, as well as physical and occupational services. Telehealth can be used for provider training, administrative meetings, and continuing education for healthcare, similar to video calls that others would be used to in a business setting.
Learn more about how and why there is a booming business happening in the world of telemedicine in the visual deep dive below:
