Opinion: 3 things bottlenecking telehealth innovation and how to fix them
The burgeoning field of telehealth has the potential to solve some of the world’s most significant health care challenges: difficulty accessing care, rising costs, and poor outcomes. While innovation in telehealth is poised to revolutionize the health care industry, I see three fundamental issues blocking its widespread adoption: poor perception, even poorer reimbursement, and outdated infrastructure. Fixing all three could open the door to this positively disruptive approach to health care.
Poor perception
Telehealth is the intersection between technology and health care which enables a range of health care services to be delivered virtually — from a doctor counseling a patient at home on the best way to treat their flu to a rural nurse delivering emergency care to an individual possibly having a stroke under the guidance of an urban neurologist miles away.
Although most people embrace the convenience that telehealth provides, many others believe — of about 400 medical consumers, respondents felt that the lack of in-person interaction, the absence of a physical exam, and having to use technology were big drawbacks to using telemedicine.
