Healthcare facilities are one of the most crucial services required by the population in every country. There are many hurdles that avert people from obtaining proper medical cures and treatments. Telemedicine is the key technology that has eliminated all barriers restricting healthcare services. With the advent of technologies, telemedicine has become increasingly popular and undoubtedly has a profound impact on healthcare industry across the world. Telemedicine is one of the most influential forces reshaping wellness and healthcare industries today for healthcare organizations, doctors, and patients.

What is Telemedicine?

According to the study by Global Market Insights, the global Telemedicine market will expand from $45 billion in 2019 to more than $175 billion in 2026. The telemedicine market size is expected to witness a huge rise of 19.3% CGAR from 2019 to 2026.

Telemedicine can be defined as the provision of remote clinical services, via real-time two-way communication between healthcare receivers and providers. 

It includes all the ways patients and doctors can use technology to communicate without being in the same room. It is also termed as telehealth, digital medicine, e-health, etc.

Telemedicine is a convenient way for physicians to see their patients and vice-versa. Hence in return, time is saved, revenue is generated and engagement is nurtured. Also, neither patients nor providers miss out on face-to-face interactions since video calls enable patients and providers to connect virtually.

Let us take some examples for better understanding:

• Sharing of patient’s X-ray reports for remote diagnosis
• Enabling patients to manage chronic diseases
• Virtually linking of patients, practitioners to dermatologists
• Streamlining workflow within an organization
• Aiding in elderly healthcare management
• Offering remote nursing services
• Facilitating doctor research 
• Conducting real-time counseling sessions

Classification of Telemedicine

Telemedicine largely breaks down into three types of solutions namely store-and-forward, remote patient monitoring, and interactive medicine.

Store-and-forward solution

Store-and-forward telemedicine, also known as asynchronous telemedicine, is a type of telemedicine solution wherein primary care providers share patient records and medical data like medical history, laboratory reports, imaging studies, video, and/or sound files, etc with a physician, radiologist, or specialist remotely. All this is done using a solution that has built-in, sophisticated security features to ensure patient confidentiality. The data is further examined and a diagnosis or a treatment plan is sent back to the provider.

Store-and-forward telemedicine is most often used in dermatology, radiology, ophthalmology, and pathology – areas in which the primary care provider can gather and analyze medical reports and other data before making clinical decisions.

Remote Patient Monitoring

Remote monitoring also known as self-testing or self-monitoring is a type of telemedicine service that uses a range of technological devices to remotely and accurately monitor clinical signs and health of a patient. The health data is further efficiently shared with relevant healthcare professionals and they then provide feedback to patients.

Remote monitoring is often used for management of high-risk patients like those with chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes mellitus, etc. Elderly patients at home can be efficiently and inexpensively monitored via this type of telemedicine.

Interactive Medicine

The most well-known type of telemedicine used today is Interactive Medicine which involves real-time communication between healthcare providers and patients. This real-time telemedicine solution takes the form of chat, audio, and video communication to replace in-person visits.

Interactive Telemedicine offers timely care, especially in emergencies and urgent situations thus maintaining the concept of a doctor-patient relationship via face-to-face analysis and treatment. For example, Telepharmacy offers remote pharmaceutical advice to patients without letting them step out of their comfort zone.

Introduction to Channelize.io Telemedicine Solution

Telehealth app development requires significant responsibility as it directly impacts people’s health and wealth. Hence, development of a Telemedicine Solution with ideal features and security measures can be an asset to your business. Here are the features that speak about our Teleconsultation Solution and make it a success.

Tele-consultation Modes

         “Because instant conversations lead to better patient care”

Channelize.io creates vast communication possibilities between Healthcare Providers and Receivers right away. The platform is fully HIPAA compliant and hence ensures maximum security and privacy.

Text Consultation

Channelize.io telemedicine solution offers real-time chat functionality to connect caregivers and receivers securely irrespective of their physical location. A Chat is initiated between a Doctor & Patient as soon as an appointment is booked. It acts as the main channel for optimal delivery of patient care by facilitating processes before, during, and post consultation, like:

• Sharing adequate information with the doctor about health condition and symptoms before the consultation
• Sharing e-Prescription with the patient
• Providing post-consultation medication and follow-up alerts to patients (Requires chatbot configuration as per need)  
• Sharing of diagnostic reports, medical documents, x-ray reports, and lab results in real-time

Below are some features that enhance the experience of Doctor-to-Patient Chat:

• Experiences that match with popular consumer Chat apps like WhatsApp & Facebook Messenger.
• Typing indicators
• Delivery & read receipts
• Rich media & documents sharing
• Formatted messages
• Audio Notes
• Push Notifications And more!

There are also many other aspects of the Chat system that make it well suited for effective Telemedicine:

• End-to-end encryption
• Chat history preserves the record of consultation
• Group Chat enables patients to add family members to the consultation. This improves delivery of care. Coming Soon

Video Consultation

Channelize.io Telemedicine Solution lets you offer better diagnosis by visually assessing and understanding the patient’s health issues and queries with the Video Consultation feature. Opting for video visits instead of in-person appointments is ideal for screening and treatment of many types of diseases & health issues, as well as for follow-ups. The below features of our Video Consultation add to the effectiveness of our solution:

• Encrypted HD Video Calls
• Only Doctors can initiate Calls
• Easy switching between Calls & Chat for sharing information

Voice Consultation

This works similar to Video Consultations. The only difference is that the Doctor initiates an Audio Call with the patient instead of a Video.

Appointments Scheduling & Booking

“We offer a Telehealth solution to make patient care easily accessible & more convenient“

Doctors Profile

    “With Channelize.io, Communicate with your patients in just a click”

Miscellaneous Features

Launch your telemedicine solution with Channelize.io and enjoy the following benefits :

Benefits of Telemedicine

The increasing demand for more accessible healthcare is the driving force behind the growth of telemedicine. Whether a doctor is restricted by geographic barriers or a patient has a busy schedule, telemedicine can help improve a doctor’s business and a person’s overall health and well-being.

Benefits for Healthcare Organizations

“With Telemedicine, healthcare organizations enjoy lower medical expenses and higher operational efficiencies”

The implementation of remote care has resulted in saving time for the healthcare providers and cutting costs for the healthcare organizations that employ them. Further, this has prevented expensive downstream events, such as hospital admissions or readmissions.

From the cost perspective, telemedicine has led to fewer unnecessary specialist visits which are regarded as a significant driver of medical spending. By keeping patients and doctors at home but still providing them with a telemedicine platform healthcare organizations are boosting up their revenue streams. Integrating a telemedicine platform into the healthcare scheduling system can help healthcare organizations keep track of their employees which aid in streamlining the organizational workflow.

Telemedicine solution offered by Channelize.io benefits healthcare organizations in the following ways

Channelize.io telemedicine solution provides communication capabilities between healthcare providers and healthcare receivers, that ensures growth and revenue generation for the healthcare organizations.

• Bridging the gap between you and your Patients
• Unmatched, fast time-to-market
• Safe, Secure and Effective Platform
• Usable as a standalone solution
• API for Integration with existing EHR & Healthcare systems

Benefits for Doctors

“With Telemedicine, caregivers experience more flexible schedules, improved access to patients and work-life balance”

Telemedicine solutions can be regarded as an efficient way of easing workloads, giving providers unprecedented flexibility, and enhancing their productivity.

Channelize.io gives healthcare professionals the ease to expand their practice beyond their office walls, strengthen patient relationships, and enhance financial outcomes. Doctors can create personalized profiles, schedule appointments according to their availability, and connect with patients via HIPAA compliant chat and call. When their consultation ends, patient pays for healthcare service via a secure payment gateway.

• No location boundaries
• Experiences that keep doctors happy and patients in trust
• Flexibility to choose doctors’ availability and time slots
• Easily receive payments online through secure payment gateways
• Cost and Time-Saving

Benefits for Patients

“With Telemedicine patients enjoy greater convenience, improved access to care and reduction in expenses”

Telemedicine has a powerful impact on patients, their family, and their community hence there has been an increase in adoption of a multitude of telemedicine technologies available today. 

Be it eldercare challenges, geographic barriers, or risk of spreading of contagious disease, telemedicine overcomes all such restrictions and leads to enhanced customer engagement and customer satisfaction.

According to a study released in 2017, the average telemedicine visit costs is $79. The average doctor’s visit is $149 and the average trip to the emergency room is $1,734.

Channelize.io Telemedicine solution enables patients to schedule on-demand doctor appointments, access real-time healthcare, and leverage the expertise of specialists remotely. Hence eliminating the hassle of stepping out and at the same time save time and money. Patients get a chance to connect with featured doctors and seek free follow-ups post-appointment. 

• 24×7 Availability of Healthcare Experts
• Prompt Medical Attention
• Cost-Effective
• Higher Patient Satisfaction 
• Easy access to doctors even if you’re out of town 
• Digitally saved prescriptions for later access

Read more: Improving Patient Engagement with Telemedicine!

Leveraging APIs & SDKs for Telemedicine Solution

Building a telemedicine solution is a challenging and complex project. Integrating a ready-made chat solution lets you save time and cost needed to roll out a complete healthcare service and allow you to focus on your core business without getting sidetracked.

With Channelize.io APIs and SDKs you are getting a secure, effective, scalable, and customizable ready-made communication solution that can be easily integrated into any healthcare consultation platform and can prove immensely useful.

What are APIs and SDKs?

APIs (application programming interface) are the technical foundation of high-value interactions between different applications that are used to customize a fully-featured chat into your product. 

SDKs (Software Development Kits) package the APIs to implement the client application quickly without having to go back and start from scratch. 

Channelize.io SDKs and APIs offer wide chat functionalities with enriched-features and can be scaled up easily without having to worry about performance, server maintenance, or security. These APIs and SDKs create the highest quality messaging experiences with maximum flexibility and minimum time to market.

Channelize.io APIs and SDKs offer customizable chat possibilities with elevated features that can help you build a versatile messaging app that can result in

• Improving customer experience
• Extending customer reach and value
• Stimulating business and technical innovations
• Fulfilling business requirements

Apart from offering rich and engaging text chat, video, and voice calling experiences, Channelize.io APIs also ensure security and privacy of the sensitive information exchanged between the healthcare providers and receivers. Using Channelize.io APIs and SDKs you can thus create fully-functional standalone chat applications like WhatsApp and then can even publish under your own brand name.

Browse our Developer Documentation to get a brief outline of features, functions, and the flexible customization options available with Channelize.io APIs and SDKs.

Here are some of the features that channelize.io APIs and SDKs offer – 

Innovations in our Telemedicine Solution

There is no doubt that APIs and SDKs can bring great opportunities in healthcare sector as they offer healthcare or health-tech startups the opportunity to scale, foster innovation, and reach a wider audience. 

Because of our APIs and open source SDKs, healthcare organizations, or health-tech startups using our telemedicine solution can build custom integrations and extend our solutions in a manner that integrates seamlessly with their systems. This makes the Channelize.io Teleconsultation solution unique and thus can drive the transformation of your digital ecosystem.

Here is what makes us innovative :

Open Source Front-End UI Kits

Build better chat experiences with customizable, repeatable, and scalable open-source front-end UI kits for multiple Web, Android, and iOS frameworks.

Pre-built Angular App

Ready-made plug and play UI to ship out quickly & some easy customizations like color, typography, options, etc.

Webhooks Support

Build new features at the top of existing ones using webhooks.

Pre-built Integrations

Add a modern chat interface seamlessly into your brand’s website and mobile apps in just a few mins.

Pre-built UI

Don’t build the UI from scratch. Use our pre-built UI to reduce the go-to-market time.

It is the power of our APIs and SDKs that will enable your organization to design timely, stable, and cost-effective solutions for a wide range of distribution channels including browser, mobile, and desktop.

Read more: How Communication APIs are helping deliver quality Healthcare via Telemedicine

Technologies in Telemedicine

Technologies such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotic Process Automation are disrupting the entire value chain of clinical practice and patient care delivery system by offering new models of care and support. These technologies are helping struggling healthcare networks to cope with vast imbalances in healthcare distribution, lack of trained healthcare practitioners, and affordability of complex clinical procedures. 

Adoption of Bots 

Leading healthcare organizations globally are piloting RPA initiatives within their existing IT environments as automation can help accelerate patient support, monitor medical lapses, and feed information a patient is looking for. RPA use cases in healthcare are focused on improving throughput, reducing manual effort, automating routine tasks, and eliminating manual errors while improving the patient experience.

The adoption of RPA bots in healthcare organizations and health tech startups has grown exponentially in the last decade and today, we can see various organizations of all sizes using bots for a variety of use cases and functions. Robots have proven especially helpful in telemedicine as they show up in several healthcare scenarios :

• Surgical Assistance
• Remote clinical encounters
• Patient engagement
• Chatbot Support
• Supply chain management and Much More!

AI is improving Telemedicine

“AI represents the epitome of medical innovation”

AI applications are used to support, develop, and supplement new remote healthcare models. Developing AI machines that can process data and provide decision-making information in a manner similar to what a human does has resulted in an entirely new sector of innovative health technologies.

AI in the telemedicine field is directly supplementing innovations in these areas:

Tele-radiology,

Tele-pathology,

Tele-dermatology, and

Tele-psychiatry

AI in telemedicine can be utilized to

• Analyze, screen, and treat diabetic retinopathy remotely 
• Lessen hospital wait times
• Help radiologists spot details that escape the human eye
• Shorten the drug development cycle and MUCH MORE!

These technologies offer great opportunities to an entrepreneur or a technical service provider to reach a larger number of audience be it healthcare providers or receivers.

The Channelize.io Telemedicine solution can help you leverage these technologies to help you gain efficiency and effectiveness in your enterprise business processes.

Here is an in-depth demonstration of our Telemedicine Solution!

Conclusion

Our Quick to launch Telemedicine Solution offers you an incredible platform to grow and expand your business at an astonishing rate. With our Telemedicine solution, you can build versatile messaging apps that demand any sort of customization in terms of features, functionalities, UI/UX, etc. This is a secure, scalable, and customizable solution that will be the best asset you would need to advance in healthcare business.

If you’re a product owner, technical service provider, or running a Health-focused Community, or are part of a Healthcare organization then Channelize.io is the solution to all your needs!

Don’t hesitate to contact us at info@channelize.io or register here to avail the free trial.