Telehealth or telemedicine involves using electronic or technology-mediated means to deliver health care services to patients. It has and continues to power effective healthcare delivery. Considering the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, where most communities were mandated to stay at home, telehealth has minimized the need for in-patient visits and increased access to health services altogether. The need to avoid travel translates to time and cost savings (Chuo, Macy, and Lorch, 2020). Finally, due to the rising cases of child and adolescent mental health needs, the need for more practitioners continues to increase. Fortunately, telehealth will help keep this demand since it is time-saving; thus, one practitioner can attend to various clients.
The main barriers to this practice involve licensure, privacy and security, funding, and the patient-clinician relationship. Since telemedicine often requires the delivery of services across different states, health professionals are required to have licenses that are financially burdensome, complex, and time-consuming. Secondly, data is becoming more integrated as software and devices become more interoperable. Thus, ensuring privacy and security is important yet complex. However, there are no set standard federal and state guidelines for telemedicine privacy and security.
Thirdly, funding sources for telemedicine are an issue. For instance, since insurance companies cover telemedicine on a limited basis, patients are forced to pay out of their pockets. Also, it is not assured that traditional sources will fully fund telemedicine research (Coyle, 2021). Lastly, telemedicine tools as smartphones produce changes in interpersonal boundaries presenting new challenges to improve the patient-clinician relationship. Both the patients and clinicians have to adapt to these changes to ensure their relationship is extended.
In conclusion, the emergence of telehealth innovations presents opportunities to enhance global health care and disease prevention. On the other hand, these present innovations challenges as health professionals and patients adapt to the new technologies. Therefore, further research is needed to avoid adverse consequences and improve telehealth services. Subsequently, additional funds other than the traditional sources are required to support telehealth research.
Coyle, S. (2021). The Continued Growth of Telemental Health. Social Work Today, 18(2), 18. Retrieved 14 December 2021, from https://www.socialworktoday
Chuo, J., Macy, M., & Lorch, S. (2020). Strategies for Evaluating Telehealth. Pediatrics, 146(5). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-1781
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