Telemedicine in Ontario

Telemedicine in Ontario

Telemedicine is the practice of offering and delivering patient care at a distance with the use of telephone, video conferencing and chatting over the internet. This practice has witness substantial growth in the last few years due the innovation in technology and affordable access to to the internet

Many patient conditions can be diagnosed and mitigated remotely including basic flue, ache and other conditions. Luckily, many government and private health insurers have recognized the benefit and need for telemedicine and hence included such practice in their coverage. Therefore, most telemedicine services, in many provinces across Canada, are free to the patient.

According to the Ontario Telemedicine Network, over 652,000 telemedicine visits were completed between 2008 and 2014 across Ontario, which highlights the increasing popularity and prevalence of telemedicine in Ontario. Given the aging population in Canada, there is an increasing demand of such services, and this trend is predicted to continue over the next 2 decades.

One of the great benefits of telemedicine in Ontario is the fact that patients do not need to wait for a long time in a clinic waiting room. Patients can simply book online and wait for a doctor to call them back and imitative their appointment. Also, patients do not need to communicate to the clinic. This is particularly beneficial in rural and northern Canadian areas and for the seniors.

Also, over the last few years, many technology providers have developed secure and reliable platforms that can allow for private video conversations between the patients and physicians without compromising the privacy of the patient personal information.

Also and recently, one of the factors that yielded unprecedented demand for telemedine is the recent outbreak of COVID-19. Many clinics imposed guidelines to pre-screen patients before admission and hence, telemedicine offered a great value here by allowing clinics to speak with patients and assess their conditions without having to attend the clinic.

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