TeleMedico is committed to rural health.
Only about ten percent of physicians practice in rural America despite the fact that nearly one-fourth of the population lives in these areas.
The obstacles faced by health care providers and patients in rural areas are vastly different than those in urban areas. Rural Americans face a unique combination of factors that create disparities in health care not found in urban areas.
People in rural areas generally have less access to healthcare than their urban counterparts. Fewer medical practitioners, mental health programs and healthcare facilities in these areas often mean less preventative care and longer response times in emergencies. The lack of healthcare workers has resulted in alternative ways of delivering healthcare to rural dwellers, including medical consultations by phone or internet as well as mobile preventative care and treatment programs.
Lengthy travel time and distance to larger, more developed urban and metropolitan health centers present significant restrictions on access to essential health care services.
TeleMedico has been suggested as a way of overcoming transportation barriers for patients and health care providers in rural and geographically isolated areas.
According to the Health Resources Services Administration, “telemedicine may be defined as the use of electronic information and telecommunication technologies to support long-distance healthcare and clinical relationships.” Relevant literature notes that telemedicine provides clinical, education, and administrative benefits for rural areas. First, telemedicine eases the burden of clinical services by the utilization of electronic technology in the direct interaction between health care providers, such as primary and specialist health providers, nurses, and technologists and patients in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of diseases and illnesses. Secondly, the advantage of telemedicine on educational services includes the delivery of healthcare related lectures and workshops through video and tele-conferencing, practical simulations, and web casting.
