In this episode of the Next Generation Healthcare Podcast, we delve into the history of virtual healthcare and its transformation into a key player in modern medicine. Explore how telemedicine has evolved as a consumer service, offering unparalleled convenience and accessibility. We break down the two primary methods of telehealth, highlighting their unique benefits. We also compare telemedicine doctors with in-person care, helping you understand when each is most effective. Finally, we discuss the rapid growth of the telehealth market and its implications for the future of healthcare. Tune in to learn how virtual healthcare is reshaping the medical landscape.
Discover how medical cost-sharing and telehealth can transform your healthcare experience! Visit our Resource Center at OptimalTeleHealth.com for expert insights, guides, and tools to help you make informed decisions.
Continue learning in our blog, Virtual Healthcare: What Is It, How It Works, And Benefits For Family Care!
Chapters:
0:47 Virtual Healthcare History: Starting with the Telegraph
4:50 Telemedicine As A Consumer Service
6:36 Two Methods of Telehealth Services
8:00 Two Doctors At Your Disposal: Telemedicine Doctor vs. In-Person Doctor
10:12 A Fast Growing Market
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Welcome to Next Generation Healthcare, proudly presented by Optimal Telehealth, our soaring health insurance costs for your family or business causing you stress. tired of the long waits and high fees for a simple doctor's consultation? Then you've found your podcast. Next Generation Healthcare is here to empower you to take back control over your healthcare decisions, freeing you from the constraints set by insurance companies. In our episodes, you'll uncover the secrets to circumventing traditional insurance to access direct services from your preferred providers at savings of 40 to 50 percent. Stout, the visionary founder and CEO of Optimal Telehealth. Now, let's hear from Larry. Thank you, Mandy, for the gracious introduction, and thanks to our viewers for tuning in. In our last episode, we compared traditional health insurance to medical cost sharing. Medical cost sharing is one of the two components in the Optimal Telehealth Optimal Care membership that competes directly with traditional health insurance. The other component is virtual healthcare, which is our topic of conversation today. Virtual healthcare, often called telehealth, evolved from telemedicine, a process that can be traced back over 150 years. If you want to go to extremes, historical records show that the Greeks and Romans used fires and light signals in 500 BC to spread the word about plagues. But since telemedicine is so tech Let's keep it real and say the history goes back to the creche of the Telegraph with Samuel Morris in 1844. From 1861 to 1865, the Telegraph was used to order medical supplies and report deaths during the Civil War. Shortly after inventing the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell spilled acid on his pants and used the phone to call for medical help in 1876. In 1879, a popular publication, The Lancet, published the Telegraph. talked about using telephone to reduce doctor's office visits. And so it goes. With many milestones over the years, in 1948, the first radiology images were sent 24 miles via telephone in Pennsylvania, and in 1959, the University of Nebraska used telephone lines to transmit neurological examinations across the country. NASA got involved in 1961 by advancing telehealth research to monitor animal biometrics in space. Again in the 1970s, NASA developed the StarPak system to deliver better health care to a Native American reservation in Arizona. From 1973 to 1995, Dr. Rashid Bashar brought telemedicine into the public forum by holding two national conferences. on telemedicine and founding the Telemedicine Journal. After the founding of the American Telemedicine Association in 1993, Dr. Bashar served as president for two years. NASA launched the first international telemedicine project in 1989 to deliver medical services to Armenia after a devastating earthquake. In June of that year, a patient in St. Louis Hospital became the first person to be defibrillated remotely using a telephone line. In response to the 2008 recession, the American Recovery Act of 2009 allocated $25 billion for the advancement of digital health care. This resulted in a development surge during the subsequent decade. By 2013, 52% of hospitals were using telemedicine and another 10% were committed to implementation of the technology. In 2014, the company eVisit launched one of the first commercial applications of telemedicine technology, triggering a rush to turn telemedicine into a consumer product. By the following year, 62% of smartphones were using eVisit. their device to look up health care information. It goes without saying the COVID pandemic beginning in 2020 pushed telehealth to the forefront as everyone was reluctant to go into public places. In the same year, telehealth video consultations increased to 158.4 million compared to the 2014 level of 19.7 million. and become a key part of modern medicine. Let's look at telemedicine as a consumer service. Over the past 10 years, telemedicine has exploded into the marketplace as a far more affordable and convenient means by which to access primary care medical services. For those who missed my first episode, primary care is your family doctor and your entry point into the medical system for maintenance of your good health. The primary care physician will diagnose and treat most conditions, but if serious conditions are diagnosed, they'll refer you to a provider of major medical services. The access to primary care medicine provided by virtual services is especially timely because there's a major shortage of primary care physicians in America. So virtual services are filling that void. that enables them to provide virtual services to their patients, eliminating the in-person appointment wait time and inconvenience. If you do a web search for telemedicine services, you'll find an abundance of providers, but in reality, there are far fewer companies that are actually generating those services. Building a company that can market telemedicine services for profit is a huge and expensive undertaking that requires the development of sophisticated software. and the recruiting and credentialing of a large pool of physicians to support the customer base. In future episodes, I'll invite guests onto the show that hold key positions under one of the largest telemedicine providers in America. You'll get an inside look into the operations and the sophistication of their business. There are two common methods of delivery of telehealth services, the membership method and the pay-per-call method. Paper call is appropriate if you have an unexpected need that requires quick access to a doctor, but each call will cost between $50 to $75. Membership is a much better value because you can pay for a full year of monthly dues for about the same amount as you would spend on two or three paper call consultations. In addition, memberships typically include unlimited access to a bundle of services that might include things like behavioral health counseling, dermatology services, or patient advocacy services. As telemedicine gained popularity, there was a subtle evolution from telemedicine to telehealth. This change became appropriate as additional services beyond the basic doctor consultation were added. The initial services that became online were the obvious ones like behavioral health counseling, patient advocacy services, things like that. By the way, for the majority of our viewers who have never been exposed to patient advocacy services, we'll host a patient advocate in the future episode so we can all get educated. Patient advocacy is one of the most valuable yet underutilized services offered through the telehealth system. Without a doubt, the most significant service added in recent years is called Virtual Primary Care. This service creates a one-on-one relationship between the member and the doctor of their choosing. To appreciate the importance of this, you need to understand the difference between a telemedicine doctor and a virtual primary care doctor, and it has to do with the level of service provided, not the credentials of the doctor. When you contact a telemedicine doctor, the request for consultation is broadcast to a pool of available doctors, and the first one to respond will handle your consultation. Because you're never assured of communicating with the same doctor each time you call, the doctor is limited to diagnosis and treatment of about 50 common conditions. This may not sound like a lot, but it's enough to eliminate up to 70% of your expensive trips to the doctor's office. With Virtual Primary Care, you can schedule an appointment with your dedicated doctor and be assured of a consultation within a 48-hour window. Your dedicated doctor has the ability to send you out for additional diagnostic services such as lab work and imaging services. With the added information, the doctor is able to diagnose and treat around 1,500 different conditions. It also gives the doctor the ability to better monitor chronic conditions, which are common to many Americans. Now you have two doctors at your disposal. A telemedicine doctor, we now call them urgent care doctors, and your dedicated doctor. Obviously your dedicated doctor is not available 24 365, so the urgent care doctor fills in during emergency or less serious situations. If you're ever in question about the level of service appropriate for any given medical event, your caregiver support team will triage your condition and guide you in the right direction. Suffice to say the sky's the limit when it comes to the types of services that will become available in the future. You can certainly anticipate consultations with a variety of medical specialists will be on the list of future services. Let me summarize and close by emphasizing this is a fast-growing market that will play a key role in the future delivery of health care to the average American. In my experience, consumers have an understandable hesitancy to embrace telehealth, so I encourage you to experience the process. Because once you do, you'll become an AVID fan. If you're interested in learning more about this, check out our resource center at Opti You can locate the link in our show notes. You'll find an unlimited number of podcasts, blogs, downloadable guides, and more to ensure your healthcare solutions and savings are empowered by you. We hope you found this episode informative. Until next time, remember. Next Generation Healthcare fosters a brighter and more empowered future for all. Thank you for tuning in to Next Generation Healthcare, brought to you by Optimal Telehealth. Your engagement means the world to us. If you find our content informative, follow our podcasts on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. We welcome your participation and will review listener input in future episodes. To leave your questions or comments, access additional episodes, or browse our blog post library, please visit the resources page at Opti You may also connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram for the latest insights and updates. 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