mHealth

Thanks to the rise of telemedicine, medical professionals are more able than ever to meet with patients, even when those patients are unable to leave home. This revolutionary practice has been especially effective when specialists are needed, including when patients present with less common conditions.

There has been success with telemedicine in the United Kingdom as a way to manage lung cancer treatment. With complicated diseases like cancer, patients need a myriad of doctors to fight alongside them. Cases need to be reviewed by a lung cancer multidisciplinary team (MDT) and a thoracic surgeon, but a problem arises when there is a shortage of thoracic surgeons, as is the case in the UK. The solution is telemedicine.

The way we view healthcare is changing—patients are starting to expect more convenient options and have access to more information about their health. New technology has helped telehealth to become a reality for many patients without easy access to healthcare facilities. It has helped healthcare facilities fill gaps in specialty care via telemedicine, and has helped all patients play a larger role in their own care. However, there are still obstacles ahead of widespread telemedicine adoption that will need to be addressed in coming years. Both telemedicine and analytics are major areas of interest for healthcare IT investors, reaching $197 million (analytics) and $171 million (telehealth) in 2016. These two areas go hand in hand, as big data analytics are helping to advance telemedicine and empower both physicians and patients. Here are five ways big data is playing a role in telehealth.