Telehealth Solutions: Top 15 Trends

By treating nicotine addiction, doctors bring people back to normal life. Patients with paralysis recover so that they can walk again. Those who have Alzheimer’s can recall dear memories and emotions. Youngsters get rid of depression or anxiety to keep studying, living, and having fun with their families and friends. Can you imagine that special telehealth solutions can cover all this routine without having to see patients in person regularly at the therapist’s office? Well, but how else can you imagine getting medical treatment in the years of the COVID-19 outbreak? Here is when telehealth solutions arise to help patients and healthcare professionals even more.

The situations described above are familiar to many people, but it was hard for them to survive COVID-19 without timely telemedicine software solutions. Consulting and treatment had to shift online, but it was not easy to imagine how virtual doctors will work.

In today’s post, OpenGeeksLab will reveal how telehealth solutions function in the epoch of the COVID-19 pandemic. Is it a revolution? Are those changes temporary? Our team has collected 15 telehealth trends that come in handy if you are about to rethink your healthcare business.

Basic Factors in the Telehealth Solutions Market Development

Telemedicine medical systems are safe and scalable solutions that boost healthcare staff performance and streamline the patient experience. Such tools make medical processes smoother, more efficient and convenient. Telehealth has spread to many fields and keeps adopting throughout. The primary advantages of telehealth are obvious. Let us uncover the main pros of applying telemedicine solutions in a contemporary medical system:

• Family connection. Telehealth solutions exclude an opportunity to hide the illness of health from close people. It is a perfect way to guarantee access to healthcare records for all users who are trusted and can obtain access to private health-associated info.
• Primary care management. Various telehealth solutions ease the process of connecting to physicians at any time, at any place. New users obtain a physician as easily as ABC. Even if the expert is busy at the moment, consumers can simply get another therapist at the special platforms for telemedicine.
• Improved evaluation. Physicians can do more than measuring blood pressure. Advanced telehealth solutions can guarantee an in-depth analysis of everything, starting from health history records to the home environment. Such functions allow for creating more sophisticated care methods. Other technologies grant delivering various labs to patients’ homes in return packages. Zoom video calls, for example, are excellent for covering all details.

Tech innovations in medicine will soon entirely replace some traditional methods. Why? Therapy telehealth platforms provide physicians with an opportunity to better evaluate organisms, current health state, genes, habits, moods, and more. Telehealth solutions and innovations allow treating even the most complicated disorders in the shortest period of time. Special applications make it possible to identify conditions and propose an effective treatment. You can check some popular healthcare solutions on our website.

That is why professionals should actively integrate telehealth solutions online. Telehealth is one effective method to change people’s lives for the better, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Distant diagnosis, counseling, and treatment are critical now when patients face certain risks while leaving their homes.

Telehealth market size is projected to reach $559.52 billion by 2027 with a CAGR of 25.2%. Key factors in such rapid growth include:

• Proven positive effects of distant health control
• Speedy increase in medical expenses for government/private fields
• Rapid development of chronic health conditions
• Switch to client-oriented delivery of medical treatment
• Need for effective prevention and treatment of COVID-19
• Necessity to enrich knowledge of mental health

Because of the coronavirus, telemedicine tendencies demonstrated the need for an optimization-based workload of medical personnel. Experts divided telehealth delivery into three categories:

• Synch telemedicine stands for communication between physicians and patients through PCs and gadgets.
• Asynchronous telemedicine stands for delayed communication between two sides. It means that a patient can submit private data like symptoms, pictures, videos, and more. A physician can reply later instead of reacting at once.
• Distant patient control is a 24/7 health condition control via specific telemedicine software and devices set up on consumers that transmit critical medical records to hospitals and clinics.

The next thing to discuss is how COVID-19 impacted telemedicine. Does it have more positive or negative effects?

COVID-19 Consequences for Telehealth Solutions

Traditional medicine and telemedicine have shaped greatly as COVID-19 did huge harm to our health. Telehealth has become a significant part of the post-pandemic reality. After in-depth research, McKinsey concluded that this type of medicine has significantly expanded access to healthcare and treatment. It’s crucial as people had to stay at home, having no opportunity to visit their doctors in person.

Hospitals turned into places with high risks. It made sense to stay at home, but how could one see a doctor? The answer is obvious: telemedicine. In March 2020 alone, American patients who installed and used telehealth applications grew up by 154% in comparison to March 2019. After the peak, this number reached 200 million people. Social distancing remains the primary reason for such a tendency.

You may also wonder about telemedicine software cost today. Most healthcare organizations prefer cloud hosting to store critical medical data. One can log in from any device. These are advantages of web-based apps:

• Absence of app downloads
• No on-site server set-up
• Lack of app licensing fees
• Enhances flexibility
• Easy to scale with your expanding requirements
• Fast video conferencing opportunities with no installation

Cloud-based alternatives are as safe as on-site hosting. They are all HIPAA compliant and apply data encryption to defend the info while it is being transmitted.

Depending on the options that you need, telehealth software may cost you starting from $30-$300 monthly per user to thousands of dollars. There is no need to worry about primary hardware investments or maintenance fees.

Many cases prove that telemedicine has become the main source of treatment for patients worldwide. One example of such services includes Teladoc. That is an app that managed to start providing help to roughly 20,000 patients per day. Apps from other categories do not show such results in such a short period of time.

One more case is Amwell that allows connecting to your doctor online via video chat. This company reported an income per third quarter estimated at 62.6 million USD; that is an 80% increase in contrast to recent year’s reports. Except for video solutions like this one, the post-COVID environment will force app developers to find new ways to minimize risks of getting infected:

• Quicker provision of medical services and help
• Ongoing expansion of virtual primary care
• Hassle-free access to mobile devices and apps (critical for obtaining aid without leaving home, training at home, and more)
• Guaranteed security and protection of patient’s personal information (this one is proved by the latest data leak from one startup called Vastaamo)

These facts and stats all prove that COVID-19 impacted telehealth hugely. This pandemic had a positive influence on healthcare app development and demand. However, it does not mean that meeting all requirements that HIPAA established is easy. One should consult credible vendors that offer telemedicine app development services to fully leverage the potential of telehealth tools. Such tools are excellent telehealth software solutions that replace onsite treatment during hard times when you’d better stay at home. The future of telemedicine was fully reshaped this way.

Telehealth Trends That Impact the Future of Healthcare

An unpredicted lack of physicians, social distancing, overloaded medical centers, and increasing demand for prompt counseling have accelerated the adoption of telemedicine tech. 83% of users report that they do not plan to stop applying such applications even once the global lockdown is over. Just a year ago, this market was worth $45.5 bln. In 2026, they say it may achieve the mark of $175.7 bln.

Many factors are shaping global health. Seamless communication is the primary tendency, but some other novelties also matter. Learn more below.

1. EHR-Based Telehealth

We’ll start our list of telemedicine trends with this critical point. Why would one want to use an electronic health record (EHR) technology? By embedding this telehealth software, simplicity of usage and operational efficiency are guaranteed. Healthcare experts should be able to access data on their patients at any time. Otherwise, their system will be overloaded and some tasks can be ignored. Adding data manually would take plenty of time.

EHR is an excellent solution. Special apps that would mix the features of telemedicine and EHM are what physicians need. Some of the names include CareCloud, eClinicalWorks, AdvancedMD, and ChARM Health. Healthcare experts can come up with extra telemedicine software features in the EHR. That’s how they can optimize overall workflow and make it possible for the patients to prevent serious issues by having easy access to telehealth platforms at any time. One bright example is when President Obama made EHRs a centerpiece of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), promoting their adoption with more than 30 billion USD in incentive payments in 2011-2015.

2. Telemedicine IoMT and Wearables

COVID-19 increased the need for remote healthcare. Experts realized how vital it is to design communication tools that would quickly connect doctors with their patients from any location. Internet-of-medical-things (IoMT) is a rather prospective field. They say, by 2029, it will go up to $285.5 billion compared to $24.4 billion in 2019.

Watching patients is now easy via special devices. Having a stable internet connection is enough. Such tools as inhalers, contemporary smart beds, EKG, and ECG monitors ease various processes like info exchange with telehealth applications. These solutions have numerous virtual care benefits. For example, they minimize the workload, enhance patients’ mobility, and make monitoring health conditions possible.

3. Big Data and Artificial Intelligence

Increasing the efficiency of telehealth solutions is possible by involving other technologies. Artificial intelligence in telehealth and big data are among the possible advanced telehealth solutions. They are both great add-ons as they can gather, process, and evaluate large portions of information, providing ideas for effective treatment plans. The majority of patients have encountered AI in some shape in a medical setting. This technology powers chatbots to client service and therapy. AI tech possesses apps in precision medicine, drug discovery, and genomics. Some of them include Babylon, HealthTap, and Ada.

Machine learning (ML) is another efficient solution. Private data is not all; one can access and analyze geo-location. There is no need to worry about data security and accuracy.

Artificial intelligence can lead to better results and improve the productivity of care delivery, according to McKinsey. Using AI, ML, and big data allows detecting signs, social status, features, age, and other factors that may impact treatment. Collecting this type of information allows making data-driven decisions. It makes no wonder that the AI medical industry will probably go up quickly in the upcoming few years, exceeding $34 bln by 2025.

Virtual reality (VR) is another factor. Telehealth software systems cannot ignore VR technologies. In case your system is lagging, forging ahead is important. That is what Mandy Roth of HealthLeadersMedia says. Some of the app examples include Airway EX for iOS, Anatomy 4D+ for Android, Bacteria 3D for iOS, and InCell VR for iOS. Read more about some inspiring virtual reality use cases in our blog so that you get enough examples.

4. Augmented Reality for Quality Care

By combining digital telehealth solutions with augmented reality (AR), experts can enhance telemedicine platforms. They increase the accuracy of various processes. Staff wastes no more time on fixing mistakes. AR is helpful in patients’ transportation, for instance. Various types of telehealth solutions may require various levels of training. Tailored apps are already assisting with identifying the ways to treat patients. Smart glasses, dentist tools, vein scanners – all of these are examples of augmented reality solutions. Other AR tools enable surgeons to remotely project their hands into the display of a surgeon on-site wearing the AR tech, obtain guidance during the procedures, display 3D models, and more. Such software involves EchoPixel, BioFlightVR, Vipaar, and more.

5. Greater Focus on Data Security

Patients worry about their private data that they share with telehealth solution providers. Here is when HIPAA arises to protect personal health records. Medical providers must implement data encryption. They should restrict access to personal data, conduct regular security tests, and impose other preventive methods. 2020 showed that many telemedicine solution providers are not ready to cope with current challenges. That is why such apps are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Some examples include Blackbaud and DCA Alliance – they could not manage to resist hackers.

6. A Team-Based Care Method

Creation of solutions that make it possible to apply a team-based care approach is another trend. It is a win-win approach for healthcare professionals and patients. Telemedicine has discovered methods to incorporate team-based care into virtual care because of the existing pandemic. The National Academy of Medicine provides more explanations and examples of a team-based care approach.

7. A Hybrid Model of Telemedicine and Face-to-Face Treatment

Hybrid telemedicine combines telehealth and in-person care. This model is grounded on video conferencing tech, scheduling, reserving seats, patient control, and follow-up. Personal factors must detect whether a patient must be controlled distantly, in-person, or both. COVID-19 motivates tech to facilitate hybrid patient treatment. The idea is that this model helps to provide patients with their requirements, cutting out excessive visits and examinations for patients, improving quality of communication. These tools will assist experts who prefer using hybrid models: AmWell, MDLive, Doctor on Demand, and more.

8. Mental Telemedicine Software

This trend is about huge opportunities as well. Different types of telehealth are known, and some of them include Vectera, athenaOne, and Simple Practice. They allow handling mental health issues effectively. Those are also excellent tools for management and communications.

9. Applications for Recreation and Wellness

A healthy lifestyle has long become a trend. Many people refuse bad habits in favor of health. They deny smoking and drinking and start doing sports regularly. Such people keep an eye on their health, and various nutrition and recreation applications are a must-have for them. Professional developers offer diverse solutions for different purposes. Fitness application development matters as many users wish to keep fit and stay on-the-go at any moment. Some of the best fitness and nutrition tools include Waterlogged, Fitocracy Macros, and MyFitnessPal. What’s more, you can check out SolidFit, a fitness social network app OpenGeeksLab developed to bring together all-in-one fitness experiences.

The fitness software market will most probably achieve $14.7 bln by 2026, as shared by Market Watch. This industry will increase at a CAGR of 23% in seven years. Since September 2020, MyFitnessPal has been the income leader among nutrition and sports software, with $1.44 mln in total.

10. Relaxation of Telemedicine Policies and Guidelines

New apps for visits can replace the necessity to attend doctors face-to-face. It prevents patients from having to go to the hospital, risking their health. This approach saves plenty of time as it takes 20-30 minutes to consult a physician in most cases. Such solutions as Lemonaid, GoodRx Care, and LiveHealth Online assist with doing so.

Some sources estimated that telehealth saves more than one hundred minutes of consumers’ time compared to in-person facility attendance. They can settle every appointment in the comfort of their home. Easy-to-use tech solutions, online scheduling, and communication are just some nice additions to the saved time.

11. Drug Creation Instruments

It is one of the recent telehealth utilization trends. Development tools allow incorporating clinical examinations and counseling remotely. Researchers, scientists, and patients benefit from such an opportunity. Digital health tech (DHTs) propose new modalities for collecting and recognizing sensitive data from patients as they keep on living their daily lives.

12. Developing Field Solutions

Developing telemedicine solutions like ob-gyn, cardiology, pathology, and more. Some promising use cases cover Check Mobile ODT or Practo apps. Another example is building a telemedicine system with the help of Azure cloud services that connect a professional medical organization to distant patients.

13. Medical Training Is Moving to the Next Stage of Learning Productivity

We have discussed AR applications above. As for the integrated telehealth solutions, AR apps integrate info with the medical environment in real-time; it allows for cost-effective info that would be simply accessible for healthcare coaching in such fields as nursing, mental therapies, imaging, and more. Delivering applications for the enhanced digital experience in healthcare education would bring medical training to a brand new level of learning productivity.

The best thing is that medical professionals have a passion for mastering new fields. They are ready to study and actively apply different tech solutions for that. They actively seek training in disciplines related to data science to improve patient care, as shared by Lloyd B. Minor, dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine.

14. Accommodating Social Distancing Rules in the Future

As McKinsey shows, more than 45% of patients apply telemedicine platforms on a regular basis. This field transitioned from an optional means of treatment to an outright need to accommodate social distancing guidelines and make sure that both consumers and medical professionals are safe. That is why many organizations worldwide had to scale up their virtual care and telehealth. Except for the stable internet connection, however, patients and doctors will both require some silent, private places to conduct their meetings.

15. Digital Channels Are in Higher Demand

Users prefer such channels to seek out necessary medical info. It assists with managing wellness. More than 100 million people possess an Apple Watch now, and many similar devices have become ubiquitous in our daily lives. They allow viewing health-related data easily.

Go Get Your Telehealth Solution Right Away!

Telehealth industry trends of 2022 and beyond prove that medical staff should fully meet HIPAA requirements and implement new solutions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It showed a surge in demand for its services. Healthcare providers must stick to the latest tech innovations and use various applications.

More tools in such fields as healthcare training, distant control, drug development, AI-utilizing diagnoses procedures appear on a daily basis. Software development is not the only field to focus on; new legalities and regulations should be considered as well. It’s not that easy to handle all processes without extra help. Thus, finding a telemedicine software development agency is a good idea.

You’ll need a reliable tech partner like OpenGeeksLab to implement effective healthcare solutions. Being delivering effective healthcare solutions since 2015, we are always ready to lend you a helping hand. Just have a look at Doctro.app. This app was designed by our pros to help doctors and patients stay connected in the age of COVID-19 outbreak.

If you decide to come up with virtual care software, our company will provide you with skilled experts of the highest level. Just contact us and benefit from implementing top telehealth solutions today!