Preventative care can be defined as the measures that are taken to help detect or prevent diseases before they occur or progress. This type of care is highly important, as detecting certain risk factors for diseases, or identifying the early stages of a disease can greatly improve a patient’s health outcomes, and overall quality of life. Traditionally, most preventative care services are conducted in person, however, through recent advancements in healthcare technology, several preventative care services can be enhanced when delivered through telehealth.
Here, we’ll cover a few of the ways these features are helping providers improve the ways they deliver preventative care to patients.
Making The Most of Remote Patient Management Platforms
As remote patient management platforms continue to evolve, it’s no surprise that the features these solutions offer are expanding as well. While many healthcare providers are already aware of the non-preventative care features available through telehealth, such as pre and post-operative care programs, there are a number of other features that can be used to enhance preventative care processes.
With access to direct messaging, video conferencing, secure file sharing, remote monitoring and more, remote patient management systems allow healthcare providers to view a wide scope of patients’ health needs. This can help providers better understand which preventative care measures should be taken, and when they should be taken.
Benefits of Remote Patient Management For Preventative Care
Allows For Earlier Detection of Health Issues
Remote patient management is most commonly used in patients who have been diagnosed with, or are at risk of developing one or more chronic illnesses. When it comes to preventative care for chronic illnesses, there are several strategies that are used. These include primary prevention which is intervening before a disease forms, secondary prevention which involves detecting and treating a disease early on, and tertiary prevention where disease management takes place to slow or stop the progression.
With remote patient management, healthcare providers can utilize remote monitoring equipment, and direct communication with patients to detect changes in their health. For example, a patient who has been diagnosed with COPD can use a remote patient management platform to log their health data, and notify their healthcare provider if their symptoms are worsening. In doing so, healthcare providers are able to identify early warning signs of disease progression and make necessary care adjustments.
Keeps Patients Informed
When it comes to disease prevention, patient education is key. Education is also a major component of disease management, and can be used to reduce the risk of a patient’s condition becoming more severe. When patients do not have the right tools to manage their illness, they are likely to face health challenges, and can even develop other illnesses if they are at risk. An article published by Harvard Health Publishing states that some chronic illnesses are closely related, and having one can already increase your chances of developing another. These include conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease.
To minimize the risk of disease progression or having another chronic condition develop, healthcare providers can utilize remote patient management platforms to provide effective and engaging educational materials. Through the use of disease-specific care pathways, patients can input their health information, and have resources they can follow sent to them directly. These can include additional information about their symptoms and why they may be occuring, and recommendations or instructions for the steps they should take to improve or maintain their condition. In providing these resources to patients as symptoms arise, they can begin working towards making adjustments to their routine or treatment, and reduce health risks.
Continuing to Improve Preventative Care With Remote Patient Management
By maintaining frequent contact with patients through remote patient management, the overall knowledge and understanding of what preventative care measures should be taken by a patient can be significantly improved. With remote monitoring equipment, healthcare providers can also ensure a greater number of patients are able to access preventative healthcare services. By continuing to improve preventative care practices through the use of remote patient management, healthcare providers can help drive the rates of patients who are able to prevent or detect health issues early on.
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