10 TELEMEDICINE: THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU RIGHT NOW

Considered a game changer in terms of making health care universal, telemedicine is slowly becoming a useful tool to communicate more quickly and conveniently with patients.

In technical terms, telemedicine is the use of applications and services such as twoway video, email, smartphones, and other forms of telecommunication to facilitate medical care at a distance, especially to those who live in rural areas. According to PsychologyToday.com, telemedicine use has grown 10 percent annually in recent years and has become a $4 billion per year industry in the United States.

The rising popularity of telemedicine can be closely attributed to its accessibility. Programs such as Apple’s FaceTime and Skype are being used not only to reduce the number of canceled appointments, but also to consult with patients in far-away cities. For example, doctors in many specialties, such as plastic surgeons, are using video-chat services to give e-consultations to potential patients in different states. And at South Lake Hospital in Clermont, they combine clinical medicine and online networking to make real-time consultation and education possible on medical procedures.

Nevertheless, many medical professionals are aware of the drawbacks of using telemedicine. For issues of privacy, doctors have to make sure their communication is secure and encrypted in order to adhere to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). And under current laws, doctors must be licensed in their home state, as well as in any other states they are seeing patients on a more-thanoccasional basis, according to the American Telemedicine Association.

When discussing telemedicine, physicians still agree nothing can replace reallife, face-to-face interaction, particularly when it comes to new patients. Looking to the future, medical professionals believe the key will be striking a balance between telemedicine and in-office care. While Skype may be great to use with long-established patients who require just a quick check-in, patients may still need an office visit to understand certain nuances that can only be communicated in person. Still, as technology continues to be an important facet in daily living, experts know the number of people making e-appointments with their physicians will only continue to mushroom.