Today’s healthcare organizations are facing complex challenges. Scale the care, expand the access and improve outcomes have become tough but essential issues waiting for solutions.

The development of video conferencing emerging AI technologies, multi-points endpoints bring new possibilities for the industry. Increasingly there have been discussions at industry conferences about telehealth applications and their potential for cutting costs. The following 10-facts are about telehealth:

1.90% of healthcare executives say their organizations are developing or already have a telehealth application. -MedCity News

2. Telehealth makes up about one-fourth of the healthcare-related technology market. -BCC Research

3. The majority of healthcare organizations are increasing or maintaining their telehealth investments this year. –ReachHealth

4.In a survey of health system clinicians, 42.5% say they use telehealth to fill in gaps in care delivery. -Fierce Healthcare

5. 65% of patients with a primary care provider would be willing to see them through a telehealth visit. -Healthcare IT News

6.The majority of consumers are comfortable having their private patient records in the cloud. -Cisco

7. Almost 60% of patients aged 65 or older would be willing to manage a chronic condition with a telehealth visit. -Healthcare IT News

8. A study of outcomes for 8,000 patients showed there were no differences in care quality between the in-person visit and the telehealth visit. -Fruit Street (CDC)

9. When telehealth applications were applied in an outpatient psychiatric setting, the length of stay in ER waiting rooms declined from 48 hours to 22.5. -American Hospital Association

10. Improved patient satisfaction scores were the biggest telehealth ROI cited by healthcare executives. -ReachHealth

On two separate occasions, video conferencing saved a patient’s life. Image that:

Occasion1

One day you noticed via the web portal that a patient demonstrated a low O2 saturation in the 70s. You were talking on the phone when you noticed her oxygen level drop from the high 90’s to the ’70s. Then you immediately connected with the patient through video conferencing and you were able to see how much she was struggling to breathe. You also noted that she was gray in color. Her husband was frantic and unsure of what to do. Because of the video conference, you were able to get the immediate attention the patient needed by calling 911 and therefore prevented a more serious situation.

Occasion2

A patient was experiencing a dramatic drop in O2 saturation as well. Once seeing this patient over the video, you realized that he was not wearing his nasal cannula and his lips were blue. Then you immediately instructed the patient to put his oxygen back on. You demonstrated and performed pursed-lip breathing techniques. Shortly thereafter, his O2 saturation climbed back into the ’90s. The patient also regained color in his face. If not for video conferencing, this incident could have resulted in a re-hospitalization for this patient.

As mentioned above, video conferencing enables doctors to diagnose and check patients online. It makes the opportunity for doctors to treat more patients who are not natives or who have no easy access to hospitals because they live in remote. For the sake of those patients, they're able to have medical treatment from virtual doctor visits from their own comfortable home timely.