According to the American Medical Association (AMA), 72% of doctor visits (office, emergency room and urgent care clinic) are for non-emergency care for common illnesses that could have been treated by a physician over the phone or by email. Wow! That would be a lot more convienant and a lot less expensive.
Archive for the ‘Telemedicine’ Category
Hot off the press!
Friday, January 15th, 2010January 15, 2010 / The Association of American Medical Colleges has estimated that due to population growth, aging and other factors, the country is facing a potential shortage of 159,000 primary care physicians by 2025. Telemedicine technologies help scarce healthcare professionals reach the widest patient population most efficiently. This number rose from earlier projections of a 40,000 shortage by 2020. Unfortunately, that’s about the time I’m really going to need to see my doctor.
Telemedicine, telehealth, eHealth, mHealth and telecare? What do they mean?
Thursday, January 14th, 2010It is very confusing to see all of these names. Are they all the same? The best explanation I have seen is ” the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications for the health and education of the patient or health careprovider and for the purpose of improving patient care.” From what I have read telemedicine ( I think that encompasses all of them) can be as simple as a phone call or email to a doctor on one extreme to remote surgery using video and robotics. Wow, can you imagine what health care will look like in a few years? Very exciting!
71% See Mobile Healthcare Increasing
Thursday, January 14th, 2010From Harris Interactive / CTIA, The Wireless Association, 2009
Very interesting study performed for the wireless industry. The survey information is rather specific to that industry, but the concepts are very applicable to all spaces in telemedicine.