Guest Post by Shahid Mansuri
Millennials seek convenience over everything else as consumers. In addition, they work full-time, have a desire to direct their own health, and may lack an established primary care physician relationship. Thus, millennials are often more likely to seek healthcare from unorthodox channels: urgent care, retail clinics, and, in recent years, online. The demand for primary care services without preference for a relationship with a health system or clinician has led to the emergence and popularity of on-demand healthcare delivery channels.
Image source: beckershospitalreview.com
Reliance on virtual healthcare systems, like telehealth services, challenges the relevance of traditional healthcare delivery for populations looking for more convenient care. This could be a cause for concern for traditional brick-and-mortar healthcare providers that don’t generally provide these virtual services.
A health system is a pool of professionals, personnel, institutions, and support groups that deliver healthcare services in accordance with the community’s health standard and geographical laws. The fundamental elements of health systems are primary healthcare and public health measures. Their application of virtual care for populations who request such a service can create major disruption in the industry.
The unfilled void
Health systems often lag in their adoption of virtual care options. Now, on-demand healthcare is trying to fill this profound gap with the help from organizations that often have little experience in the healthcare industry, like technology companies and VCs. Google, Microsoft, Siemens, and Amazon are just a few of the major technology companies that have made great advances in the field of healthcare services, including virtual care.
How patient portals solve the problem associated Virtual Healthcare Systems
Reduced care continuity
Patients who use virtual primary healthcare neither access traditional scheduled primary care model of healthcare nor have a primary care physician. They will consult any physician available on-demand from one of the virtual healthcare providers, which means they may see a new physician every time. The physician knows little personally about the patient and must rely upon his or her EMR, which the practitioner may or may not have access to.
Patient portals will allow a remote doctor, who is connected to the patient via an app or website, limited access to the medical records to ensure healthcare continuity across the board. This can save doctors time and reduce some of the burden put on physicians by administrative tasks within the EHR. The doctor won’t have to go through the complicated task of recreating a patient’s medical history and can make note of it via the patient portal while the patient will receive better treatment more quickly.
Easy medical referrals
Virtual healthcare systems are not yet sophisticated enough to treat every health condition and often have to rely upon brick-and-mortar institutions to offer a patient the most comprehensive care.
If an identified ailment or condition is deemed untreatable via a virtual healthcare platform, the consulting physician can refer the patient to another form of care, typically urgent care, a primary care office, or even an ER.
Medical history in seconds
Giving EMR access to technology companies that develop healthcare platforms is a topic of great debate, as privacy is a major concern. Strict privacy guidelines mean gathering medical information for a patient can be a challenge for a remote physician.
However, as technology evolves, the ability to share data between physicians and patients is becoming easier. Now, with some systems, a doctor can request relevant medical information from the patient, which the patient can share via a patient portal.
Lower cost of examination
Virtual healthcare means a patient sees a new doctor every time he or she seeks medical aid. Though this can depersonalize care for some, it also reduces costs for patients, as they have little to no travel costs and virtual care costs are usually lower than in-person care. Additionally, the patient’s continuous access to a secure patient portal means that he or she can share stored medical reports with a remote medical practitioner, meaning that quick, accurate care is still just as accessible. Virtual care also reduces costs for hospitals and health systems, as they can use their physicians’ time and the rooms in their hospitals for patients needing more acute or immediate care.
Saving doctors’ time
Synchronous virtual care reduces or eliminates travel for the clinician or patient and can be especially crucial for patients and doctors located in rural areas who may not have a healthcare facility nearby. However, in the urban areas increased transaction costs outweigh the benefits.
An asynchronous virtual care system uses medical record information gathered from patient portals, patients’ description of their symptoms and complex evidenced-based algorithms to suggest best practice treatment choices to the clinician and give him or her a series of easy-to-select choices, based on an up-to-date evidenced-based treatment procedure.
With virtual care, clinicians only make clinical choices – meaning they are relieved from many clerical jobs, like documentation and preparing prescriptions. A clinician, thus, can care for a patient and see more patients in a day.
About the Author
Shahid Mansuri Co-founded Peerbits, one of the leading IoT mobile app development company USA, in 2011. His visionary leadership and flamboyant management style have yield fruitful results for the company. He believes in sharing his strong knowledge base with leaned concentration on entrepreneurship and business. Being an avid nature lover, he likes to flaunt his pajamas on beach during the vacations.
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