Not to be confused with telemedicine, telehealth is defined as the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration. This scope is much broader than that of telemedicine, which solely encompasses the remote provision of clinical services. 

Access Health Care Services Remotely

In these challenging times, the greatest benefit of telehealth is that it allows us to stay healthy without exposing ourselves and others to deadly contagions and other dangerous viruses and bacteria that are unfortunately quite prevalent at medical centers. Cloud-connected medical devices are used to monitor our specs for afar. Our health data, automatically captured through these remote devices or manually added by medical practitioners, is safely and securely sent and stored on the cloud where it can be accessed by anyone with the right authorizations. 

Live video chat technology is the linchpin of it all. Using video conferencing and even live chat and messaging apps, medical practitioners can consult with their patients from afar. They can check out symptoms and ailments and prescribe the right treatments, without even having to meet their patients in the flesh. 

Telehealth also delivers plenty of other benefits. The ability to speak with anyone, from anywhere, at any time means that patients suddenly have unlimited access to healthcare providers. This is especially significant to those living in rural locations, where the nearest well-provisioned medical center can sometimes be hundreds of miles away. This also means that highly specialized experts, who were once only accessible to patients who traveled great distances -- at great expense -- to consult with them, can now help anyone in any location.

And the benefits don’t stop with the healthcare receivers. Healthcare providers too are embracing the advent of remote medical provision, and with good cause.

Telehealth offers medical providers a more flexible work-life balance. With telehealth, work from home is finally a plausible option. This new flexibility means that long commutes are eliminated, and there’s more time for family and leisure activities. The savings achieved in terms of time and money are indisputable.  

It’s not that they have much choice in the matter either. Patients themselves are increasingly requesting telemedicine treatments, as they too accept virtual appointments as no less effective while saving time and money. It seems as though medical provisioners who don’t provide the option of remote appointments will soon find their offerings become less and less attractive in the eyes of their patients. 

Telehealth can significantly improve medical provisioners’ productivity. With the commute, no shows and late patients no longer issues, medical provisioners can see take more appointments in the same amount of time. 

Consolto’s advanced live video chat platform offers medical provisioners looking to set up remote telemedicine operations a robust solution to their telehealth needs. Built from the ground-up with the needs of remote consultants in mind, Consolto delivers a powerful suite of complementary tools wrapped around a high-quality live video chat platform to help you simplify, organize, and enhance your online interactions. 

Video chat straight from  the website. Consolto’s solution allows anyone to embed high-quality, live video chat directly in their website. Deliver warm, no-hassle telemedicine services straight from your website. Patients don’t have to download anything or remember any credentials, they simply click the website widget to begin their telemedicine appointment.

Grow your business. Website visitors checking out your services can instantly reach out to you to kick off a live interaction by clicking on the Consolto widget on your website. Website operators also have the option of proactively initiating a video chat session with their website visitors. 

Scheduling. Consolto’s advanced scheduling tool makes it easy to manage your remote appointments. Interested patients can easily click on your calendar to proactively set up appointments in the time slots that you’ve defined as available. If they’re interested in speaking to you over live chat and you’re not at your station, the scheduling mechanism takes over by automatically redirecting them to your calendar. Tight integration with Google and Microsoft calendars means that it’s easy for you to keep track of all of your business and personal appointments in one centralized location. 

Personal page. Use a dedicated URL leading to your own, personal online page. The page includes links to all of your available communication channels, including live video chat and live chat. Send it out to your patients so that they have an easy way to get in touch with you if the need arises.

Take notes and record calls. Consolto’s powerful mini-CRM gives you a highly convenient way to keep records from your telemedicine appointments. Take notes during the chat and record your meetings. All documentation is saved in the cloud and automatically associated with your clients, so that you can easily access them later. 

Payment and invoicing. Seamless integration with leading payment providers like PayPal enables you to request and receive payment for your services while you’re live chatting. You can add a paywall, so that new patients can only begin live chatting with you after they’ve made payment.  

 Learn more about Consolto's video chat solution for medical services