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The Modern-Day Doctor Lives in the Cloud
The Modern-Day Doctor Lives in the Cloud

October 20, 2022

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Five Pillars of Cloud Computing That Power Telemedicine

Take a moment to picture yourself in the final months of 2019. The old routine continued. There was no need for social isolation or the fear of a virus lingering in the air. Access to medical facilities and hospitals was easy. Then came a global pandemic that changed the world. All of a sudden, ‘Virtual’ was the new normal. As lockdowns went into place, organizations that primarily depended on in-person customer service were forced to adopt a virtual route instead. They had to meet their customers where they were, which was increasingly at home. COVID-19 accelerated technology transformation in almost every industry.  Healthcare is one such industry that witnessed the tremendous digital transformation. Given the pace of change, it is evident that winners in the healthcare industry will be predominantly cloud-first, as the winners are in almost every other consumer-facing business. Let’s take a look at some of the critical enhancements in the health care industry and the role of cloud computing. 

The Rise of  Telehealth

It’s no surprise that healthcare was one of the most impacted industries during the pandemic. Despite healthcare facilities restricting access and cutting back on non-emergency visits, patients still needed to consult their general practitioners for several non-COVID-related issues, including many that did not require a physical examination. With lockdowns and strict social distancing measures in place, moving non-emergency patients through the healthcare system was challenging. General practitioners had to find a way to increase remote diagnosis and treatment. The answer was telehealth. 

Though telehealth systems existed before the pandemic, their adoption was very slow due to the cost of technology, its complexities, compliance, and insurance concerns. However, the onset of the pandemic forced insurers and policymakers to relax regulatory guidelines and compliance requirements around the use of telehealth services. This allowed enterprises to ramp up the adoption of telehealth. 

According to McKinsey’s COVID-19 Consumer Survey, telehealth has become more popular to the point where 46% of consumers now use telehealth to replace missed appointments. It is predicted that telehealth will continue to gain popularity in the post-pandemic era. 

Research firm Precedence Research estimates that the global telehealth market will reach USD 224.8 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 18.8% between 2021 and 2030.

Telehealth is one of the terms used to describe the adoption of mobile and desktop technology for patient management. The other two are Telemedicine and E-health. Despite their similarities, these terms all refer to different applications of technology within healthcare.

What is the difference between  Telehealth, Telemedicine, and E-health?

  • Telehealth refers to the use of various technologies and services to provide patient care and improve the delivery of healthcare.
  • Telemedicine refers to remote clinical services. 
  • E-health includes providing health information, education, training health workers, and managing health systems via the Internet and telecommunications. 

To sum it up, the difference between telehealth and telemedicine is that telehealth includes a broader range of remote healthcare services. In addition to clinical services, remote services include clinical training, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education. Hence telemedicine is a subset of telehealth. Further, telehealth is a subset of E-health.

 


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