One major concern among patients and primary healthcare providers is chronic disease management. This condition lasts three months or longer and is often associated with cancer, chronic heart disease, pulmonary conditions, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, mental illness, and stroke. These seven chronic diseases greatly affect the U.S. economy with more than $1.3 trillion each year as over 130 million Americans were recorded to suffer from such illnesses in the last two years.
Are you looking for ways to reduce these costs without negatively impacting the quality of care? Remote patient monitoring or telemedicine gets you to where you patients need you to be.
Increased Access to Specialized Patient Management with Virtual Healthcare
About 57 million U.S. citizens residing in the countryside lack access to quality healthcare. Medical practitioners and specialists are scarce in these rural areas and patients needing regualr access often have to drive far to see their doctor. This is a major issue for patients with chronic conditions due to mobility issues.
With the emergence of telemedicine and virtual healthcare, patients and doctors can connect and keep in touch in the convenience of their own homes. It not only gives accessibility in specialized care for the patient but at the same time reduces their transportation expenses. With telemedicine and virtual healthcare services, patients no longer have to suffer from worsened conditions from failing to show up for their regular checkups.
Monitor Patient Lifestyle Changes
Besides taking medicines and following other treatments, lifestyle changes are important in improving a patient’s condition. Some patients often have difficulty following their treatment regimens on their own and continue with old habits which eventually worsen their condition.
Remote monitoring of the patients helps doctors determine if they followed treatment guidelines correctly. Using a Bluetooth weighing scale, doctors measure the weight changes of their patients who overeat and lack exercise. Interactive apps and cloud communication tools can also allow doctors to track exercise and meals as well as send quick reminders to their patients using mobile devices thru live video and audio conferencing. Virtual healthcare specialists can assist medical professionals to ensure more improvements on the entire patient’s recovery stage.
Reduce Hospital Readmissions
About 90% of the patients admitted in the hospitals suffer from chronic diseases like cancer, which is one of the most expensive care treatments. Readmission to the hospital can be reduced since doctors and specialists can closely manage the patient’s treatment regime through remote monitoring. Both patients and doctors or specialists have lesser costs of care with telemedicine. Doctors can use it for managing patients’ lifestyle changes, answering medication inquiries, and faster triaging of new symptoms. These digital tools can greatly improve patient care and result in reduced chances of hospital readmissions.
Final Thoughts
Telemedicine improves chronic disease management. It keeps cancer patients and doctors in touch, reduces the opportunity for treatment lapse, and readmission rates in hospitals. Without these digital tools, consulting a primary care provider would not be possible and cause even more health issues for many patients. Phoenix Virtual Solutions implements telemedicine to provide optimum virtual healthcare to patients. Contact us now to learn more about the benefits of using virtual healthcare staffing solutions in chronic disease management.
