All industries have had to change their operations in the aftermath of COVID-19. Doctors and other healthcare professionals have resorted to new technological solutions to keep up with the increased demand for services and to keep patients safe. Machine learning algorithms that can swiftly scan CT and X-ray models for the presence of COVID-19 in the lungs and standing-up virtual ICUs to monitor and treat patients, for example, have been implemented by health systems in the months after the appearance of COVID-19.
In an era when conventional in-person visits had to be avoided because of the significantly increased danger to patients, healthcare providers, and communities, telehealth’s quick acceptance has considerably helped to widen access to healthcare. A May 2020 McKinsey analysis found that 46 per cent of Americans were able to substitute a cancelled healthcare appointment with a telemedicine service during the pandemic. That is a 50 to 175-fold increase in the usual number of telehealth patients. Prior to COVID-19, $3 billion in yearly healthcare expenditure was attributed to US telehealth providers. Telehealth has the potential to virtualize up to $250 billion in US healthcare spending, according to a recent study by McKinsey & Company.
An all-in-one system that provides safety, convenience, and intelligence.
In addition to texting, calling, sending images, and video visits, telehealth alternatives now include extensive patient health portals and remote monitoring. To free up healthcare resources for those most in need, telemedicine technologies allow more suspected and positive COVID-19 patients to quarantine in the comfort of their own homes. It is also possible for people with non-COVID ailments to get therapy without entering potentially dangerous situations. To help keep physicians healthy, telemedicine is allowing them to better manage their caseloads and reduce future demand for services once the epidemic has subsided.
We have heard a lot of talk about how telehealth is “just as excellent” as in-person visits as a result of this transition. I challenge us to grasp the fact that telehealth has been proved to be better than in-person visits in cases when physical co-presence is not clearly required. Even while telehealth solutions have been around for a long time, newer solutions are incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into their processes, resulting in more accurate and efficient outcomes. Using artificial intelligence-enabled cameras, machines can now respond immediately to changes in a patient’s heart rate, respiration, or other vital indicators, such as fever, as well as other symptoms.
Using AI to discover patterns, healthcare practitioners may better forecast patient behaviour and organizational requirements by aggregating data. Using software in intensive care units (ICUs), several pieces of equipment that are not linked may be combined to provide an amazingly full image of a patient. And what about all of that data? It is possible to collect, store, and evaluate this data in the future in order to make better forecasts.
The use of remote care should be the norm rather than the exception.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers and patients alike are benefiting from new innovations that are allowing them to provide timely, accurate, and comprehensive care. As a company, Intel believes that remote care should be the norm, and that telehealth advantages will be at the heart of rethinking healthcare in the future. Now that we have these advances, it is not hard to imagine a future where patients can conveniently check in from the comfort of their own homes for remote management and population health for future healthcare issues is bolstered by analytics and the full spectrum of data collected from their homes to the clinic.
Sharing our successes and encouraging the continuance of secure, effective telehealth is the only way to get there. Our communities’ health care systems must include telehealth in their daily operations going forward.
