6 Telemedicine Trends for 2024

Doctors, patients, and healthcare providers greatly benefit from the ability to give and receive digital consultations. Nowadays, even not big independent practices offer telemedicine services to their patients to remain competitive and patient-centric.

The Main Advantages of Telemedicine Include:

24/7 Access to Medical Care

Telemedicine enables more efficient use of time and resources, as digital consultations eliminate the need for patients to travel long distances to see a doctor. This is particularly beneficial for people who live in remote areas, and people suffering from infectious and chronic diseases.

Cost-Effectiveness

Telemedicine has proven to be much more cost-effective than traditional care. The research from mHealth Intelligence that studied the implementation of a virtual healthcare platform at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland has shown a 50% reduction in the cost of patient care. 

While patients can save on avoiding costly and unnecessary emergency room visits, practices reduce overhead costs associated with maintaining physical facilities and staffing requirements. As a result, according to FCC estimations, telehealth technologies can potentially save the US healthcare industry a staggering $305 billion per year.

Enhanced Patient Satisfaction

The survey held by McKinsey shows that 55% of patients agree that they get a higher quality of care via telehealth as compared to in-office medical visits. Patients receive more convenient and personalized care.

Reduced Wait Times and Risk of Contracting Infectious Diseases

Telemedicine eliminates the need for extended stays in crowded waiting rooms. This is particularly beneficial for people managing health conditions such as hypertension or heart failure. Beyond the convenience factor, telemedicine can be a critical resource, offering a secure and efficient platform for medical consultations without unnecessary exposure to potential health risks. 

Factors Driving the Growth of Telemedicine

Telemedicine has become one of the biggest drivers that boost transformation in healthcare. So what are the factors that contribute to the growth of telemedicine?

Ongoing advancements in technology, such as high-speed internet, mobile technology, and improved video conferencing capabilities, have made telemedicine more accessible and user-friendly.

Patients increasingly seek convenient healthcare options that fit into their busy lifestyles. Telemedicine provides a way for individuals to access healthcare services without the need for travel, leading to increased patient satisfaction.

Many regions have adopted or introduced policies and regulations to support the integration of telemedicine into mainstream healthcare. This includes changes in reimbursement policies, licensing, and telehealth-friendly regulations.

Advances in remote monitoring and wearable technology allow healthcare providers to track patients' vital signs and health metrics remotely. This capability supports proactive and preventive healthcare, especially for those with chronic conditions.

As healthcare providers become more comfortable with telemedicine technology and receive appropriate training, the adoption of telehealth services increases. Positive experiences and outcomes contribute to a broader acceptance of virtual care.

6 Telemedicine Trends Shaping the Future for 2024

Now, let’s see telehealth future trends that are going to shape the industry.

Virtual Training and Simulation in VR

VR is no longer associated with the gaming industry and has already entered various walks of life. This technology has become one of the popular telehealth industry trends and is actively leveraged in physical therapy, medical training, and stress treatment. 

For example, during medical training, surgeons use VR solutions to visualize and examine human organs and explore 3D models of intricate surgical procedures before commencing operations.

Interactive VR allows doctors and medical students to completely immerse themselves in a virtual environment and interact with patients as they would in real life. The availability of hundreds of possible scenarios where doctors are to take a patient’s history, examine, diagnose, and treat are also complemented by emotional engagement with the patient’s family members, realistic conversations, and emergency scenarios. The main focus of such training is on decision-making and critical thinking. Once the scenarios are completed, participants receive feedback on their performance.

Such platforms are already being offered internationally by companies like Oxford Medical Simulation; their scenarios include a wide range of specialties, including community health, psychiatry, pediatrics, nursing, and medicine.

Bigger Integration and Organizing Information with EHR

Many hospitals use diverse systems for physicians, labs, radiologists, and remote monitoring devices which makes data exchange more susceptible to cybersecurity risks due to technological and data incompatibilities between various suppliers. 

In addition to increasing clerical workloads, poorly linked systems can result in physician burnout. It has been estimated that physicians spent two hours on electronic health records-related chores for every hour of clinical activity, endangering the health system's capacity and effectiveness. 

Therefore, EHR/EMR systems embedded into hospital software are becoming one of the major telehealth trends as they help to maximize the benefits of telemedicine, increasing cyber-security and team-based care delivery.

Enhancing Diagnostics with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is one of the past, present, and future trends in telehealth. It’s used for arranging hospital visits, remote patient monitoring, collecting and analyzing big data volumes, and improving diagnostics.

Artificial intelligence speeds up the process of standardizing and quantifying medical data, improving diagnosis accuracy and reducing the possibility of misdiagnosis. 

One of the notable examples of using AI for diagnostics is Enlitic which leverages deep learning methods to expedite radiology diagnosis. Enlitic gives medical personnel important insights into patients' health situations by evaluating unstructured medical data, including blood tests, EKGs, and radiology pictures.

Expanding Wearable Medical Technologies

The ability of wearable sensors to detect physiological and biochemical markers has advanced significantly. Wearable sensors give big promises for the early diagnosis of diseases and overseeing chronic conditions by monitoring vital signs such as body temperature, arterial oxygen saturation, and breathing rate. 

Here are the examples of some emerging wearable medical devices:

1. ADAMM by Health Care Originals is a combination of hardware and cardiopulmonary-tracking software that is leveraged to monitor respiration, heart rate, temperature, etc.
2. Embrace 2 by Empatica is a wrist-worn device designed for epilepsy patients that detects seizures which trigger alerts sent to caretakers.
3. SEERS’ Bio Patch by Seers Technology is a wireless device to track heart rate, respiration rate, etc.
4. Leaf Sensor by Leaf Healthcare Inc. tracks a user’s turn frequency, turn angle, and damage caused when blood flow returns to tissue, this way, preventing pressure injury.
5. Ava by Ava Science Inc. is worn as a bracelet to track female fertility in real time.

HL7 FHIR

HL7 is an international exchange standard that addresses the challenge of bridging the gap between healthcare providers and the applications they use for keeping track of patients’ data, managing billing systems, providing care remotely, etc. In 2014, HL7 introduced a new standard, FHIR (pronounced “fire”) which became a next-generation standards framework that combines the best elements of HL7 v2, HL7 v3, and HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) leveraging the most modern web service technology at the same time.

Why do so many healthcare providers choose FHIR over HL7 now?

To make a long story short:

• FHIR uses more efficient data structures that are flexible and extensible.
• It enhances data management by retrieving real-time records, which helps to ensure data accuracy.
• It has greater scalability potential.
• FHIR is more cost-efficient.
• FHIRgreater gives patients better control over their records when medical data is shared with them, which leads to increased trust in healthcare services and specialists.  

Here is a timeline of HL7 standards development:

If you want to have a deeper understanding of this telehealth trend in healthcare, we have a blog explaining the difference between FHIR vs HL7.

Focus on Mental Health

Digital mental health visits are also among trends in telemedicine as they rank highest among the specialties in 2023. According to statistics, by the third quarter of 2023, 37% of mental health visits took place virtually, followed by infectious disease, obstetrics, and transplant. 

Unfortunately, mental health disorders are becoming more and more common and there is a lack of medical professionals to treat millions of people who require care. Solely in the United States, one in five adults reported having an unmet need in regard to mental health while telehealth helps to address this problem by providing accessible and effective mental health and substance use care.

Telemedicine helps patients avoid substance-related disorders, anxiety, and depression. By facilitating regular check-ins, therapeutic sessions, and real-time monitoring, telemedicine becomes a key driver in preventing the escalation of substance-related disorders and mental health challenges. The accessibility and convenience of virtual appointments dismantle traditional barriers to seeking help, fostering a supportive environment for individuals to address concerns before they intensify.

Of course, there are many more trends in telemedicine to come as the industry is developing rapidly. Some of the telemedicine future trends are:

How to Benefit From Telemedicine Trends?

The telemedicine market has experienced significant growth since its inception in the 2000s. Being not a new idea, telehealth has dramatically expanded its capabilities due to technology integration. In the future, we can expect its rapid growth and development.