Telemedicine provides convenience and cost-effective medical care. Recently, it has become more comprehensive, expanding to acute and chronic conditions, and migrating from hospital to home and mobile devices. In its simplest and low-tech form, visits to the doctors are not necessary and a simple telephone call or video conference can be facilitated instead. At the other end of the spectrum are surgical procedures that can be undertaken by a doctor in one country and a patient in another through robot-assisted technology.
Telemedicine is fast becoming integrated into the daily operations of hospitals, specialty departments, home health agencies, private physician offices and the homes and workplaces of health care consumers around the world. The industry is growing. In 2015, more than 15 million Americans received some kind of medical care remotely. Last year, one in 10 Americans received medical care through telemedicine.
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