Healthcare is transforming before our very eyes. Trends such as telehealth, Internet of Things (IoT)-based medical devices and remote surgery that makes use of state-of-the-art imaging equipment have put medicine at the cusp of innovation, and it’s all thanks to one breakthrough — 5G connectivity.
So-called telemedicine has existed for some years already, but seeing a doctor over the internet was far from common pre-COVID-19. The pandemic altered that, as health organizations began urging patients and staff to use emerging telehealth platforms to serve people. Adoption has accelerated across the world, and 5G is fueling that growth by providing the necessary cellular network availability, bandwidth and ease of deployment.
Read more: Blazing 5G Network Connectivity Is Powering A Wave Of Telehealth Innovation
Although the concept of telehealth has existed for decades, it’s been relatively slow to catch on. Getting patients to feel comfortable with the idea of online care—and finding medical professionals who felt confident about conducting their work in a remote setting—has not been easy. Even with willing participants and infrastructure in place, bureaucratic red tape meant providers faced an uphill battle when it came to legally treating patients and being reimbursed for their virtual care.
As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Social distancing and shelter-in-place practices due to COVID-19 have forced non-urgent healthcare providers to close their doors and pushed many patients to seek care remotely. In response, and for the first time, the federal government has empowered doctors to use telehealth to treat Medicare patients. Many state governments and private insurers have followed suit; in fact, several of the nation’s largest insurance companies have waived copays to encourage telehealth visits. COVID-19 has illuminated three key lessons that paint a positive picture of the future of telehealth.
Read more: 3 Telehealth Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Pandemic
According to the latest research report released by Technavio, the global telemedicine market is expected to reach close to USD 48.10 billion in revenue by 2019.
This report titled ‘Global Telemedicine Market 2015-2019‘, provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging trends. This market study also presents up to date analysis and forecasts for its various market segments, including services, telecom, software, and hardware.
Clinical telemedicine services converge with m-health systems of engagement to lower cost of care and improve quality of care. Tele-medicine and M-Health Market Convergence driving forces relate to an overall trend toward ordinary people taking more responsibility for their own health. This trend has been more prevalent for women in the past 100 years than for men because women used to die very young and they had to learn how to keep themselves healthy. Women have been able to reverse this trend of dying young and to live longer than men in the past 40 years, illustrating that paying attention to health is important.
Video communication has been the topic of fascination since the era of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Russia. Earlier even a small glimpse of human form was considered an achievement. Today, modern technology has advanced to such an extent that even HD video is considered as primitive. This has been possible with the implementation of broadband networks all across the United States and other western countries that have enabled the west to rely on an infrastructure as a fundamental layer for the advancement of video conferencing solutions. The progress in video conferencing technology can be attributed to the three facets that support the industry, namely: device manufacturers, network solution providers and system integrators.
Read more: Video Telemedicine Market – The future of Telemedicine in Emergency Medicine