The Booming Business of Telehealth and Remote Healthcare Technologies

With focus on cutting costs, expanding access to healthcare, and providing patients with quality and value, healthcare reform is spurring innovations in remote healthcare technology, broadly referred to as telehealth, for which experts predict tremendous market growth.

The terms teleheath, telemedicine, and mHealth (mobile health) are often used interchangeably to describe remote healthcare technologies, but they have important distinctions. Below is the definition for mHealth, because that is the one relating to our task in the Project.

mHealth(mobile health) encompasses consumer-oriented tools usually accessed online or on mobile devices. Examples include a web-based self-service portal where an insured can manage their prescriptions or order new ID cards, and a smartphone app that helps people track their progress in a weight-loss and exercise program.

The drive behind Healthcare technologies is that it's serving the needs of providers, health plans, employers and patients. Nearly everyone in the healthcare system benefits from their advantages. Among the biggest forces behind the telehealth movement are:

Consumer Demand — More patients want (and expect) telehealth services. Most people prefer the convenience—in many circumstances, the use of remote healthcare technology eliminates their need to take time off from work and drive across town to the doctor’s office.

Provider Services — The technologies are helping providers expand their reach, serve new (and even more) patients, improve access to their clinical services, reduce costs, and improve the quality of care.   

Benefits Administration — Some companies offers employers a set of services or rewards-system.

source: http://www.evolution1.com