The Role of Telehealth in Chronic Disease Management

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The Role of Telehealth in Chronic Disease
Management
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• In recent years, many technology-based solutions
  targeted at increasing the efficiency of the
  workflow have been widely integrated into
  healthcare. The adoption of online pharmacies,
  Telehealth, online lab booking, smart RFID tags,
  etc., are few solutions that have been
  incorporated in the operation of various
  divisions like clinics, Point of Sale (POS),
  pharma manufacturing, medical stores, among
  others.

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What is Telehealth?

• Telehealth is an umbrella term that covers many
  aspects of digital health-related solutions. It
  consists of Telemedicine, Teleconsultation,
  Telemonitoring, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM),
  etc. Teleconsultation is used for screening of
  new diseases, and Telemonitoring is used for
  monitoring of chronic diseases. Telemedicine
  refers to the platform that allows the doctor and
  the patient to interact. Telehealth also includes
  non-clinical administrative tools for patient and
  provider training. Usage of electronic devices
  for the treatment of patients also falls under
  this category.

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What is a Chronic Disease?

• A disease that lasts for three months or longer
  is generally classified as a chronic disease.
  Examples of chronic diseases include obesity,
  Type 2 diabetes, Asthma, Mental illness, and
  heart disease.

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Challenges Faced By Chronic Patients

• Mobility Issues
• Sometimes, patients need to travel a long
  distance to visit the doctor. Patients with
  chronic conditions tend to have trouble traveling
  long distances and remain seated during the
  travel. Problems with mobility, poor health
  infrastructure, or their own health condition may
  make it more difficult to visit doctors
  frequently.
• Age Factor
• This problem is made even worse by the fact that
  the prevalence of chronic conditions increases
  with an increase in age, which means that the
  elderly population has the greatest risk for
  carrying chronic diseases.

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• Frequency of Follow-up Visits And Cost
• The number of follow-up visits is higher for
  chronic patients. This drives up the cost even
  higher.
• Self-monitoring
• Another major challenge is that the patients need
  to monitor their blood pressure levels and blood
  sugar levels by themselves throughout the course
  of the treatment.

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How Telehealth Solves Unique Challenges Faced By
Chronic Patients?

• All these worrying trends have compelled
  healthcare providers to look for solutions that
  reduce the cost of chronic disease management
  without compromising the quality of care.
• Telehealth offers one such promising approach. It
  is now seen as the most encouraging technology
  for chronic disease management as it reduces the
  frequency and sometimes needs of in-person visits.

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Reduction Of In-person Visits
Convenient and Cost-effective

• Very few Telehealth visits require further
  in-person inspection. As this paper in
  Neurology claims that only 5 of patients needed
  further in-person examination.

• Telehealth can also help in making
  chronic-disease care systems less expensive, thus
  helping more patients to access affordable
  healthcare. The convenience and
  cost-effectiveness of Telehealth have boosted its
  adoption rate significantly.

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Remote Monitoring

• Via Telehealth, doctors can utilize mobile
  devices and other smart digital tools to monitor
  a patient's condition remotely. Telehealth
  delivers care remotely and timely.
• This is immensely beneficial for chronic
  patients. Wearable devices are utilizing advanced
  electronic sensors and cloud-based technologies
  to monitor activity and send information to the
  caregiver in real-time. This extends continuous
  care to the patients' homes.

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Easy Storage of Medical Records

• Telehealth enables clinics to store and
  disseminate medical records. Easy access to
  patient records allows doctors to analyze patient
  reports conveniently.
• Telehealth also opens avenues of providing
  specialized care locally by enabling local
  doctors to collaborate with experts. This opens
  the door to technology transfer between doctors
  across the globe and revenue sharing between
  hospitals. This is often described as
  "decentralized care."

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Future Scope

• VR (Virtual Reality)
• 5G
• AI
• Sensors

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Conclusion

• Telehealth is especially beneficial for chronic
  patients as it improves follow-up care, remote
  monitoring, and virtual visits. It also ensures
  better accessibility and allows health service
  providers to treat patients remotely.

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