Role of Telemedicine in Achieving Good Control of Chronic Disease

Editorial

Authors

Florida International University, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine

Abstract

Many barriers to access health care has been identified. Fortunately, telemedicine increases the access to care; it can overcome geographic barriers healthcare, specially for patient in medically underserved communities and those in a rural geographical location. Greater attention has been given recently to information technology and telecommunication reforms and their use for the improvement of health care service delivery. Telemedicine can virtually connect a health care provider to a patient at anytime and anywhere. Broadly defined, telemedicine is the use of advanced telecommunications technologies for the purposes of making diagnoses, conducting research, transferring patient data, and/or improving disease management and treatment in remote areas. The emphasis is on use of telecommunications technologies at remote sites in which it also can reduce the healthcare costs. This article provides a brief overview of telemedicine by show casing one of the current patients with multiple chronic illnesses, its potential clinical applications, and the various benefits and leading issues surrounding it.

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