Telemedicine Trends in the US and UK

In healthcare between the US and Europe there are few shared struggles. In the European Union the rise of telemedicine calls attention to the issue of reimbursement and implementation in its member countries. As highlighted in an Economist article member states, including Germany, do not agree on whether to pay for care that is administered remotely. The balance between doctors and insurers is an issue beyond the US as well.

In interview of Norwegian doctor, Nils Kolstrup, said that some doctors afraid that telemedicine may lessen their authority by making it easier for patients to seek advice elsewhere.

However, in the article there is no any highlighting the Cleveland Clinic’s work with several African countries when telemedicine is used to cope with the shortage of oncologists. As had been mentioned in the article the implementation of telemedicine is a stumbling block in places like China, which is investing billions in reforming its healthcare system with telemedicine as the focus.

A health official at the European Commission Peteris Zilgalvis says: “If you have a chaotic system and add technology, you get a chaotic system with technology”. In this condition telemedicine may even increase costs if it is added to old routines instead to replace them.

In one of the recently published BCC Research report is indicated that due to continue grow of American telemedicine market there is projected rise of teleservices to patients from $6.5 billion in 2013 to nearly $24 billion in 2019 which will significantly impact larger markets such as healthcare, health insurance and other.