The medical industry deals with a lot of sensitive information daily. People want to keep their medical records private, so many have strong opinions on the data security of hospitals, clinics, and other health facilities.
Between home office and remote learning, many aspects of our lives got a digital upgrade in 2020 as society took measures to reduce social contact. These measures brought attention to the concept of telemedicine.
Telemedicine revolutionized healthcare and changed the way people got the medical attention they needed. Telemedicine is a reality whether you are ready or not, so it’s essential to learn about this crucial tool.
What Is Telemedicine?
Telemedicine involves patients receiving care remotely through communications technology. The doctor can treat ongoing conditions, along with determining new ones.
While this is something that we typically think about modern technology, such as smartphones, telemedicine is more straightforward than that. Even just talking to a medical professional over the phone or radio counts as telemedicine.
Did Telemedicine Exist Before COVID-19?
The idea of telemedicine has existed for a while. For example, back in the 1920s, doctors used radios to communicate with clinics on ships or even remote villages. When transportation wasn’t as easy as it was today, it was an excellent way for medical professionals to get the expert advice needed to determine if patients needed that expensive and risky transfer to a bigger hospital.
The telemedicine we think about today is a lot different. When people refer to telemedicine, they think about making doctor appointments over video calls or remote monitoring.
While these inventions certainly streamline healthcare, many people are reluctant to embrace digitalized healthcare. Many people fear this is another way that the technological age will compromise privacy and put sensitive information at risk.
Is Telemedicine a Security Risk?
There are some hypothetical security risks of telemedicine that don’t exist in the traditional approach. With in-person visits, someone looking to spy in on an appointment—or access data—would need to be present. Thieves had to break into guarded institutions to obtain paper medical records, find paper files under lock and key, and take them.
With telemedicine, a thief could technically access a patient's data from anywhere in the world via hacking. While the prospect that someone “only has to hack” telemedicine tools to access information sounds less secure, there are several security measures that make it incredibly difficult to achieve.
Any industry that needs to deal with sensitive medical information has a legal obligation to take significant steps to protect privacy. Between firewalls, passwords, encryption, and private servers, the chances of hacking telemedicine services are pretty unlikely.
Telemedicine services are relatively safe. There is some controversy surrounding medical information and privacy versus confidentiality, but most information is already out there.
Whether or not people realized it, most medical institutions digitalized years ago. Many clinics store medical records in computer files already, sheerly for convenience.
Some things might occasionally happen—such as an employee leaving a laptop open or an individual using their log-in on a compromised device. However, staff can easily avoid these issues with standard due diligence.
The Advantages of Using Telemedicine
The traditional approach to medicine had some serious problems that needed addressing. Sure, hackers weren’t part of the equation—but they were not secure at all.
Unlike encrypted, digital files, physical files don’t require much effort to decipher. Once someone managed to get their hands on the records, they could just read them.
Additionally, without another version backed up digitally, physical copies were vulnerable to any devastating event—whether security-related or not. A theft, flood, misplacement, or fire meant that crucial personal information was lost forever. Many institutions and patients faced these problems first-hand in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina destroyed several hospitals and clinics in the US.
Digital systems are not just suitable for telemedicine; they are efficient for avoiding these disasters. It’s a lot harder to permanently destroy data stored on these servers, having computers destroyed during a storm or a stolen laptop isn’t enough to lose the information forever. Preparing for the rare ransomware attack or security breach is worth keeping information from vanishing during a natural disaster.
But away from benefitting you in a security sense, telemedicine services can offer a significant upgrade from your typical visit to the doctor’s office. Nowadays, in a world where most people have a smart device in their household, it makes sense that the medical industry would progress with technology to deliver an optimized service.
Telemedicine lets you have minor appointments from the comfort of any place you choose. More often than not, visits to the clinic warrant a quick examination and a few pieces of advice.
The time you spend with the doctor does not compare to the time spent in the waiting room or traveling to and from the office. Just think about the convenience of remote visits and how you won't need to travel long distances regularly.
This tool is not just helpful in saving time; it can save lives. Reducing the frequency of unnecessary face-to-face interactions, for example, helps limit the spread of infection—which is crucial for people with a higher risk of developing severe symptoms of certain illnesses. Moreover, telemedicine can help people from lower socio-economic backgrounds access more affordable healthcare.
Telemedicine also makes regular doctor’s visits more accessible to some populations. People facing medical problems that restrict their movement or compromise their immune systems may feel deterred from going all the way to the doctor’s office until symptoms become severe. The same goes for individuals who live in remote areas where clinics are not easy to come by, or where public transport is expensive.
Should I Worry About Telemedicine?
Telemedicine is the way of the future that revolutionized healthcare. Although the practice was around for decades, recent events demonstrate the importance of modern telemedicine in society. It’s an ideal way to streamline medical services securely and conveniently.
You can rest assured knowing that telemedicine providers take significant measures to keep your information safe and secure so you can get the most out of your healthcare experience.
