For EMS and ambulance services, telehealth and telemedicine are here to stay. The platforms to deliver them have become powerful, reliable, and affordable. And frankly, if their local ambulance service can’t provide that improved level of service to patients, patients may find someone else who will.
Like Amazon, for instance. The ecommerce giant announced a new Amazon Prime membership benefit late last year: unlimited access to 24/7 on-demand virtual care.
“Now that this concept of ‘We can take care of you at home’ is here, you’re going to see more and more companies trying to figure out how to get into that business,” said Peter Antevy, MD, a well-known emergency physician who provides medical direction for several fire/EMS departments in Florida. “The hospital often isn’t the best place to get medical care. It’s the most expensive place on earth. It is not efficient. People sometimes wait eight hours just to get seen.”
Local EMS and ambulance providers aren’t helpless against such trends. Beyond the exclusive advantages of hands-on physical interventions and expert transport remote providers can’t match, they can also take measures to expedite care, streamline access and improve patients’ experiences.
Advanced platforms like the RescueNet Live software application from ZOLL allow them to easily forward key patient data ahead to hospital care teams, empowering them to prepare early and act the moment the patient arrives. Now the company’s RescueNet Live Plus telemedicine platform adds to that the capabilities of two-way video – from the ambulance or used portably at the scene – and streaming data from an array of peripherals.
Read on to learn:
- A brief history of telemedicine and why it will continue to grow.
- How telehealth is benefiting patients in Canada’s prairie provinces.
- Essential steps for launching your own telehealth or telemedicine program.
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