Last week I decided to take an adventure. Lurred by the promise of free wifi and power outlets, I decided to take the MegaBus to a healthcare event in Chicago (I blogged about this event last week). The $30 bus fare beat out airplane in terms of cost and car in terms of hours of productivity.
This post is not a transportation review, but rather necessary backstory to introduce the passenger that was seated next to me on this journey. This Cincinnati native sat in a bus for 6 hours so that he could have access to a particular physician that specialized in treating his illness. This physician was a six hour bus ride away in Chicago. Indeed, this was not his first journey for this reason and it wouldn’t be his last according to his own personal testimonial. I will never cease to be amazed by how far patients will go in their journey towards better knowledge and health.
Perficient bloggers, myself included, have published quite a few posts on the topics of mobile health and telehealth. Such technologies are being used in industries, like education, to make the very best teachers available to the world and in healthcare to make care available beyond traditional barriers. There are plenty of barriers in the way, and technology is slowly but surely taking them down.
With expectations that telehealth can be used to extend care across rural America and into the homes of those with chronic conditions, I now pose this question to you: Can telehealth be used to end this man’s 6 hour commute by providing him access to the specialists he requires? What barriers and challenges still lay before us to make this a reality?
