Have you heard of the term “telehealth” before? Since COVID-19, the answer is most likely yes. But, for many people, they aren’t sure how virtual healthcare and telehealth can still help them today – post pandemic.
In this article, we will go through what virtual healthcare is and the pros and cons of telehealth.
What is virtual healthcare?
Virtual healthcare uses technology to help improve communication and information between patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals. It’s been around for many years, but has grown in popularity during the global pandemic when a lot of healthcare services went digital.
These interactions can be done remotely using many different types of communication:
- Video sessions
- Text messages
- Phone calls
- Skype
- Emails
The exchange of patient information can also be done through telehealth. This can be in the form of requisitions, prescription faxes, lab results, etc. In British Columbia, you also have the ability to download an app that shares with you all of your own personal medical history and reports. This is a great way for you to check results and have your medical information at your fingertips.
Virtual healthcare trends.
While we can share that virtual healthcare and the use of telehealth has risen since the global pandemic, sometimes it’s nice to see the trends and statistics yourself.
According to a Doximity state of telemedicine report, virtual health visits increased drastically in the first months of the pandemic. There was a 57% increase in the number of individuals who opted to use them.
A report by McKinsey & Company puts the number of those using virtual health visits even higher, with healthcare providers seeing 50 to 175 times the number of patients through virtual visits than they averaged before the pandemic began.
The pros of virtual healthcare.
While healthcare has gone back to offering in-person appointments, many doctors and medical offices are still requesting virtual appointments. There are many reasons why they are doing this and one of the biggest ones is because it allows more people to be seen and heard by a medical professional. More on that below.
But, let’s dive into the other pros of virtual healthcare first.
Virtual healthcare is more convenient.
We know how hard it can be to take time off work to head to a doctor’s appointment. You have to leave extra early to get there in time and find parking. Then, you get seen and it’s a very short appointment with another long drive back to the office or home.
Plus, if you’re a parent and you have to find childcare, that’s a whole other ballgame! It can feel like more of a hassle than it’s worth. Thanks to virtual healthcare, telehealth is a lot more convenient for people. Especially parents!
Simply have the phone call while you’re at home with the kids or take the call on your break at work.
It allows you to still get the medical help you’re after without feeling like you’re wasting a whole day!
It allows for more care in rural areas.
There are many areas in Canada that are so rural they don’t offer a lot of medical services. Some small towns don’t even have doctors, hospitals, or enough medical staff to care for the population of the town.
With access to virtual healthcare, people who live in rural areas are able to receive medical help too. Whether it’s speaking to a doctor or finding a therapist that they get along with, virtual healthcare provides needed access to the medical system.
Lessens the healthcare strain.
The final pro of telehealth that we will discuss is the effects it has on the healthcare system. We discussed it above, but we thought it would be good to go deeper here. One of the biggest and best benefits of virtual healthcare is the reduction of healthcare strain.
During and after COVID-19, medical professionals were burnt out, stressed and having a hard time with their careers. No wonder with the strain that the global pandemic was putting on their workplace and their mental health.
Thanks to telehealth, virtual healthcare has been able to lessen the strain that the healthcare system has been facing over the past several years. It’s reduced wait times for patients while reducing burn out for the professionals. As you know, we strongly believe in positive mental health and fighting burn out, so we believe telehealth is a huge positive to have available to us nowadays.
While we can go into the office for a medical appointment, we highly suggest thinking about whether or not you need to. If you’re able to have your medical appointment virtually, do that! It helps out more than just you in the long run.
The cons of virtual healthcare.
While we like to focus on positive information and articles, we do want to discuss the one con of virtual healthcare that we hear a lot about. This is the lack of personal connection with your medical professionals.
If you’re only speaking to a doctor over the phone, it can be hard to get personal about what is truly going on or even show them physical ailments that are happening. We hear this a lot and it is one of the downsides to virtual health.
Thankfully, medical professionals are working on bettering this. There are many doctors who request images sent to them via email before a virtual appointment. For example if your child has a rash. The team will most likely request that you send in several different images to show them what your child is experiencing. This allows the doctor to see what is going on and know how to help by the time they pick up the phone to call you.
Another way they are working on building the connection is through video calls instead of phone calls. This way the patient is able to see the doctor’s face and the doctor is able to look at the patient in the eyes. This helps a lot with feeling like you do have a relationship with your doctor, therapist, etc.
Do your benefits include virtual healthcare?
As an employer, it’s important to have your benefits package accessible for your employees. If you’re interested in learning more about virtual healthcare and how you can include telehealth services within your benefit package, please reach out to Navy & Sage Benefits today. We’d be happy to look over plans, offer some suggestions and teach you how to encourage your staff to access virtual healthcare for their wellbeing.
