Telemedicine and Telehealth: Health Insurance Trends – Peak Advisors, Inc. – Insurance Brokerage in Medford, NY

In this article from Peak Advisors, Inc. – Insurance Brokerage in Medford, NY, you will learn about what telemedicine and telehealth are, what they offer to the consumer, and why THEY ARE the trend of the future.

Call us today at 631-207-1800 or E-Mail: info@peakinsuranceadvisors.com to discuss your insurance options.

Telemedicine and Telehealth:

Telemedicine and Telehealth are the new trend in healthcare and health insurance benefits. Both have key advantages and they include:

– Faster and more convenient availability of care

– Reduced health related costs

– Improved patient health outcomes

What are the differences between Telemedicine and Telehealth? What you need to know:

“Telemedicine: The use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communication to improve a patient’s clinical health status. Telemedicine includes a growing variety of application and services using a two-way video, email, smart phones, wireless tools, and other forms of telecommunications technology.

Telehealth: A broader definition of remote healthcare that does not always involve clinical services used in the same way “medicine” or “health” are used in the common vernacular”

-American Telemedicine Association

Given that the health insurance market is catering to younger and more tech-savvy demographics, the concept and practice of healthcare through telecommunications is very beneficial to employers through this cost saving method.

Some benefits of Telemedicine and Telehealth to the employer for group health insurance as well as individual health insurance consumers are:

Reduced Emergency Room Visits and Readmission to Hospitals:

Emergency room costs can be very expensive and very common. Using telemedicine, the health insurance consumer will no longer have to rely on emergency room visits to accomplish the same outcomes. Telemedicine offers the same service an emergency room offers in a fraction of the time 24 hours 7 days a week.

Reduced employee sick days and absenteeism:

Since the employee no longer has to go through the process of setting up an appointment, driving to the doctor, waiting in the office, sitting with the doctor, and then finally being able to drive back to work; there is a lot of work and time saved using telemedicine.

Lower healthcare costs:

When an employee is sick, they may choose to not see a doctor because of the high cost of healthcare, especially in New York. Telemedicine provides services to those who would not previously seek medical attention.

For those of you who may be skeptical about the quality of service that telemedicine can offer, a recent RAND Corp. study has found that there is no increase in misdiagnosis or error in treatment when compared to traditional doctor patient office visits.