What is Virtual Healthcare and Why It is the Future

The year 2020 has been challenging with the outbreak of COVID-19. The pandemic impacted the corporate sector; it has been disruptive in terms of economic activity and loss of human lives as well. Not only this, but the pandemic also highlighted the strong need for sustainable investments in the healthcare systems, including the health workforce and decent working conditions.

The vulnerability in the healthcare system boosted the idea of medical software development, mHealth app development and dramatically increased the popularity of virtual health. It was noted that during the early weeks of the pandemic, virtual visits increased by more than 11,000% over pre-pandemic levels.

The aspect of virtual health is gaining momentum. It is becoming crucial in helping consumers maintain and improve their well-being and playing an important role in diagnosing and treating illness. Do you wonder what is virtual health and why it is the future?

Well, according to research conducted by Deloitte, 50% of executives thought at least a quarter of all outpatient care, preventive care, long-term care, and well-being services would move to virtual delivery by 2040.

In this blog post, we will do a detailed analysis of virtual health, which virtual care apps you should use, and what the future of virtual health looks like.

What is Virtual Health?

Virtual care services, virtual medical care, or virtual patient care - does any of this ring a bell in your head? If yes, then you are somewhat familiar with the idea and concept of virtual health.

Virtual health consists of digital tools and software programs for a healthcare service provider to improve patient care quality and can be accessed through digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, or desktop computers. It also provides a bridge between patients and physicians regardless of their geographic location. Consumers can video-chat with a physician or specialist instead of physically going to the doctor's office. This is all that you need to know about the aspect of virtual health.

Now let us look at how virtual health differs from telehealth and telemedicine and better understand the same.

Want to Adapt to the Latest Technologies for Effective Healthcare Management?

Leverage Our Services

How is Virtual Health Different from Telehealth and Telemedicine?

Virtual health refers to the remote collaboration of healthcare providers and patients for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating illnesses; this is all a part of virtual health management.

It is not the same as telehealth or telemedicine, though.

When faced with the question of what is telehealth, the answer is that it is the parent term under which virtual healthcare falls. It is an umbrella under which remote visits, delivery of medicines and portable equipment, and even telepathology methods like skin and urine tests fall.

Telemedicine, on the other hand, refers to treating patients by healthcare providers without meeting in person, via calls and messages. This is mainly directed at treating chronic illnesses where the diagnosis has already been made.

Virtual health, however, simply refers to the healthcare provider and the patient meeting remotely with the help of mobile apps, software, and videoconferencing. More than diagnosis, this is aimed at checking in with and monitoring patients over a longer period. Want to learn more about the top reasons to adopt telehealth? Read our blog and get an insight. Now, let us learn more about virtual healthcare's benefits.

Benefits of Virtual Healthcare

When COVID forced our hands, people had to start video conferencing their doctors for primary diagnosis and follow-ups. However, a year into this routine, many have found virtual healthcare more accessible and less expensive. And in countries like the US, where healthcare is not free, these two combined can push a major portion of the population to adopt this practice even in the post-pandemic world. But virtual healthcare seems to have many more benefits:

• With the large-scale use of healthcare IT services and virtual care apps, virtual healthcare providers can extract a huge amount of data using Big Data techniques and build relevant records for further research on healthcare.

• As we know, AI is reshaping the healthcare industry, making it more efficient and effective. Virtual care apps can leverage artificial intelligence and augmented reality to give doctors a clear picture of patient symptoms and infections. It will help them accurately diagnose, give virtual medical assistance and treat patients without meeting them in person. The research by the University of British Columbia shows that AI models can predict cancer patient survival with 80% accuracy. This enables healthcare professionals to recommend patients to pursue more aggressive treatment plans.

• Teleradiology, telepathology, teledermatology, and telemedicine app development are being widely practiced now. Patients are asked to store required data and forward it to healthcare professionals, who can use that for diagnoses.

• It is a major help in geriatric care, where providers can remotely monitor the old and vulnerable on a 24-hour basis.

• Patients need not be at the clinic, and doctors need not be at the hospital for a visit. It can lead to wider access to healthcare. Furthermore, NGOs can use these mHealth apps to bring expert providers to poorer parts of the world, where proper medical care is non-existent.

• It takes less time, money, and energy to look for a second opinion with many experienced providers listed on the apps.

• It reduces the need for continuous hospitalizations in case of chronic diseases. The provider can catch the symptoms and treat them remotely with remote monitoring.

• Virtual healthcare can be instrumental in reserving ER beds for serious injuries and not chronic illnesses, which went unchecked due to the communication gap between patient and provider.

These are a few benefits of incorporating virtual care in the healthcare industry. Now let's look at the list of disadvantages of virtual healthcare.

Drawbacks of Virtual Healthcare

There are disadvantages associated with a virtual health platform as well. The primary disadvantage is the inability to provide complete clinical care in one location, leading to the need for patients to travel to a distant medical facility.

Many virtual healthcare providers may store digital copies of data in an unsecured setting, making them vulnerable to hacking and identity theft. Furthermore, a lot of healthcare solutions development services providers do not necessarily provide enough continuity of care for their clients, who may experience sudden changes in health status that require fast decisions on treatment options. Let's look at the cons of virtual healthcare solutions in brief:

• It will throw up new legal issues. Even with in-person check-ups and treatment, cases against doctors are common. Virtual healthcare will need its codicil to protect both doctors and patients.

• There are no set standards for the health market, and this lack of standardization can lead to a loss of confidence from customers due to security breaches or inappropriate care.

• And most importantly, there are serious security and confidentiality concerns. With the involvement of a third party, users need to be very careful of the information they store on their mHealth apps, and providers need to ensure compliance with operational guidelines to avoid a data breach.

Now that we have clarity on virtual care management's pros and cons let us look at the top 5 virtual care apps.

Top 5 Virtual Care Apps

Many virtual care apps have come up in the last few years, but here we will be discussing a few which have managed to secure the trust of doctors and patients alike:

1. Doctor on Demand

Our top pick has over a million downloads and a whopping 4.9-star review on both Google and Apple play stores. Doctor on Demand has a host of licensed doctors, therapists, and psychiatrists, which makes them one of the best healthcare providers in the market.

Sign-up, appointment booking, and billing procedures are easy, and patients without insurance coverage are extended the same care and treatment. They generally treat patients based on previous medical history.

Though there are no charges for signing up, the fee of each practitioner is comparatively higher.

2. Medici

Medici is HIPAA compliant and comes with a slew of doctors and nurses. One can avail of a free demo, but the membership costs $149 monthly.

They have provisions for one-to-one messaging and videoconferencing with the chosen healthcare provider.

The patient can choose from their range of remote treatment plans based on health requirements and budget.

3. LiveHealth

LiveHealth has a personal dashboard to track appointments, symptoms, and treatment. One just needs to enroll and set appointments, and they will generate alerts before the appointment.

This app can be a godsend for new mothers as they have therapists, doctors, and lactation counselors.

It is customer-friendly, and they come with a track record of quick troubleshooting.

4. AmWell

AmWell is one of the most popular apps famous for its robust videoconferencing feature. It allows 24/7 appointments with registered practitioners and generates alerts for upcoming appointments and provider availability.

Doctors on AmWell will be able to review your history, answer your queries, conduct a proper diagnosis, treat accurately, and then prescribe medication.

It also offers customized physical therapy plans to the patients.

5. MySugr

Diabetes is a major concern worldwide and, if left untreated, can be fatal. But with the assistance of tracking apps like MySugr, one can keep track of blood sugar and get it treated remotely.

MySugr is like a personal diabetologist – its tracks blood sugar and food intake, maintains a medication log and even provides an accurate HbA1c estimate.

The patients are assigned a MySugr coach and trained and certified diabetes educators for personalizing meals, medications, and exercise routines.

These top 5 virtual care apps have secured faith in virtual healthcare services. Now, let us dive into the future of virtual health.

Future of Virtual Health

The healthcare industry is a business, and it needs to stay ahead of the competition by seeking new ways of providing medical care. To this extent, healthcare organizations have started experimenting with virtual health technology.

The future seems promising for virtual health! Now that people are using it, they can decide in what situations they need to visit the doctor personally and when an app may suffice.

The people who will benefit most from virtual healthcare will be the elderly in care homes. Since they were in the high-risk group for COVID, they had to be monitored remotely by caregivers, and now it seems this may be here to stay.

However, legalities and security issues must be sorted out if virtual health is to supplement traditional medicine in a bigger way. For now, we can look forward to more people investing in custom healthcare software development so that the potential of virtual healthcare, as a part of it, is truly explored. Technology trends that open the doors to the virtual clinic, virtual health services, and virtual hospitals are all fascinating until we look at the other side, the challenges for future virtual healthcare development. So, we are not out of the woods yet; let us dive into the list of challenges and gear up accordingly.

Challenges of Virtual Healthcare Development

Virtual healthcare has come a long way from the humble beginnings of COVID, but still, it is far from developing without any major hurdles. Below are the major challenges virtual healthcare faces and how it can fulfill its requirements.

1. Impediment of Security

Security is imperative when exploring virtual healthcare, but it also presents many roadblocks. Cyber security is based on the assumption that IT infrastructure, systems, and solutions are secure.

However, it is no secret that some of the attacks in the healthcare sector happen because of software flaws, configuration errors, and new technologies failing to withstand different cyber threats in medical software development. That's where an augmented security system can enhance the process. Hence, we need to develop reliable virtual healthcare technologies that will be completely secure and can remedy this flaw.

2. Inadequate Education

Virtual healthcare is in its inception stage, and those who use the technology should be well-versed in how it works. With multiple healthcare software solutions, doctors may not have enough time to explain every option so they can use the ones that are convenient for them personally. This is why virtual health education was put in place, where people would spend a small amount of their time learning about virtual health apps and make an informed decision on which one suits them.

3. Ease of Use

While this is closely linked to ease of education, many app developers are willing to make their products more user-friendly. Many virtual health apps on the market are difficult to navigate and require a lot of effort to get the most out of them.

One needs to have a fair amount of patience and time to navigate the options and pick the ones that will meet their health needs. That's why developers themselves need to strive for ease of use. This can be achieved by creating a product with an intuitive interface, reducing variables, and gaining simplicity in the user-interaction process.

4. Lack of Interoperability

These days, hospitals are increasing their information sharing with other healthcare networks and providers in case of emergencies or when there is a need for documentation or document management. This has become necessary because of the complex nature of healthcare today and because patients may stay at multiple hospitals before they are pronounced fit to travel.

Hence, all the medical records need to be shared among various hospital chains so it will be easier for doctors to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment plans. However, these processes require integration between various healthcare networks and systems. Having established workflows across different institutions can help improve efficiency in the system as well as ensure security.

5. Lack of Collaboration

This can be tricky, but there is certainly no reason why collaboration cannot happen between different healthcare stakeholders. Interoperability is not as simple as it seems, as some organizations are unwilling to share information with their competitors, which is the main obstacle in facilitating inter-hospital communication.

Virtual health platforms provide a solution for this by providing mechanisms for the complete sharing of information, including cases, treatments, etc., and ensure that those who have access to the server have all the required credentials to be able to do so. This can help improve interoperability while ensuring that information remains secure and protected from hacking.

To harness the optimum potential of virtual health platforms it is necessary to understand the basics covered in this blog. Apart from this, healthcare organizations must choose one of the leading healthcare software development company to get the 200% out of virtual health platforms.

Why is Radixweb the Best for Virtual Health Apps?While virtual health apps are gaining popularity among doctors and patients, the challenge lies in getting their hands on top-quality healthcare applications that help improve efficiency and productivity while keeping privacy intact. It's not easy as it seems because virtual health apps are merely a part of a larger healthcare ecosystem. A lot goes into making them what they are, from patient profiles to records to test results. Keeping this in mind, Radixweb, the leading healthcare software development company, can help you build a customized virtual health application that provides all-in-one solutions for your practice.With advanced technology and decades of experience in application development, Radixweb has helped hundreds of clients achieve the desired results. Today, the team at Radixweb is focused on providing services for hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare organizations that can bring in more profit by making their processes more efficient with virtual healthcare solutions.If you want to build solutions for virtual healthcare that make it easy for users to get information about their health conditions and symptoms and provide them with treatment options based on this information, Radixweb can help you make a difference. Using our expertise in the healthcare IT sector, we build lightweight and secure solutions so your practice can be efficient.