A Closer Look
Is Telemedicine The Future Of Health Care?
How Telemedicine Disrupts Traditional Health Care Delivery
Telemedicine is a disruptive model of care delivery that challenges the current status quo in the world of medicine. These are innovations that create displacement in the established market leaders by providing and offering products and services that are cheaper, simpler, and more convenient than the current ones. One of the innovations is the use of electronic communications to exchange medical information from one site to another to improve a patient’s clinical health status.
The success of a disruptive technology is relatively tied to its business model. The business model provides a framework for an organization to create and capture value out of the disruption. Pairing telemedicine with the right innovative business model can lead to greater accessibility and affordability (Eysenbach, 2019).
Telemedicine is something that requires time to get used to. According to a Neil Raden report, it already has presented obstacles to US state-based medical practitioners. For example, a traditional physician does not know from where the patient is connecting. Even existing patients may be using a telemedicine call while somewhere else. Technically, if the doctor is unlicensed in that jurisdiction, they can be exposed to disciplinary action. On the other hand, if the doctor is in a different state for whatever reason and takes a telemedicine call, he or she can also be out of compliance (Raden, 2020).
Despite this, telemedicine is still primed to disrupt traditional healthcare and is seen as the 'future of medicine'. Based on a study conducted by Josh Althauser, in other places such as India, telemedicine is widely used to address the needs of rural communities. Lazarus Hospital, for example, is treating renal disease using SMS, digital cameras, and the Internet to stay in touch with patients and monitor their health. The best part about this is that it is only a fraction of the cost of chronic care compared with those in the United States.
Potential of Telemedicine in Global Health
Telemedicine includes facility-based and in-person services. It not only creates greater access but also affordability in the health care system. It is an innovation that focuses on the improvement of the current system and greatly sustains the performance in the traditional market. It is disruptive because of its holistic view towards one health care service that causes debate or stirs within the word of medicine (Eysenbach, 2019).
On-demand telemedicine are often included when offering newcomer service lines often which are initiated by health care consumers. This service can be compared to the traditional modes of facility-based in-person care delivery. These on-demand services are patient-initiated and accessible anytime and anywhere. These potential advantages attract health organizations in high volatility environments in order to manage existing pressures such as high consumerism (Eysenbach, 2019).
Due to the increased trajectory in the market and the adoption rates among health organizations, on-demand telemedicine may hold great promise as a disruptive technology that will bring greater accessibility and affordability to health care (Eysenbach, 2019).On-demand telemedicine has other forms such as primary care, behavioral health care, and urgent care. This includes the virtual urgent care clinic (VCC) which is widely adopted for the on-demand service that received peer to peer reviews.
VCC became a catalyst form of disruptive technology that can be utilized in examining on-demand service launch and business model deployment. It provides primary and urgent care services for those who do not need immediate medical needs or those who have medical conditions that can be managed effectively by telemedicine, such as chronic bronchitis, conjunctivitis, rashes, and upper respiratory tract infections. Figure 1 displays where VCC can be used or positioned in telemedicine (Eysenbach, 2019):
