Benefits

Telemedicine can serve to the benefit of both the health care provider and the patient. A patient who may be suffering from a chronic disease and is also far away from hospital facilities, widely entertains to telemedicine services which can be provided at his/her home on a daily basis. This service improves the rural economy and also cuts down on travel time for both the specialist and patient. Telemedicine also allots more time for health care specialist’s to respond to more patients on a time wisely manner. This helps to solve the growing problem of the shortage of doctors and hospital rooms worldwide. Medical health training can also be performed through telemedicine procedures such as video conferencing. In addition telemedicine will reduce the margin of errors performed because care providers are forced to do it right the first time. This will lower the amount of unneeded medicine, and reduce costs. The expanse of telemedicine has ushered countless benefits for patients, health care providers, and the economy.

Challenges

With every technological advancement, there always comes a downside. Since telemedicine has just entered into the mainstream, there hasn’t been enough time to accommodate it into existing health care policies. The knowledge of existence regarding this tool is also very limited. The targeted costs of starting a rural facility is nearly $100,000. The question of who will sponsor grants to produce the lump some of money also remains unanswered. How and which physician will take liability of poor patient outcome also becomes an issue. Many opponents argue the lack of intimacy between the patient and care provider will only produce adverse effects. In an interview Professor Carl May, of the University of Newcastle argues, “they often focus on 'hotel' aspects of care rather than important questions concerning patients' confidence about the diagnosis and quality of life. Concerns about security and confidentiality are rarely addressed." # These hurdles appear in many debates regarding the use of telemedicine in health care.