What is telehealth? Telehealth is a way to visit with healthcare providers, such as your physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or mental health therapist, from any location you choose that has access to telecommunications technology. You meet with your healthcare provider via an electronic device such as a phone, computer, or tablet by transmitting audio and video.
Benefits of telehealth
- Limited physical contact reduces everyone’s exposure to infectious diseases.
- Virtual visits ensure you get health care anywhere – at home, at work, or even in your car.
- Virtual visits cut down on travel, time off from work, and the need for childcare.
- Virtual healthcare tools can shorten the wait for an appointment.
- Increased access to specialists who may be located far away from your hometown.
Potential risks for using telehealth: As with any medical procedure, telemedicine has potential risks. These risks include, but may not be limited to:
- In rare cases, the information transmitted may not be sufficient (e.g., poor resolution of images) to allow the clinician providing your healthcare via telehealth to make appropriate medical decisions.
- Delays in medical evaluation and treatment could occur due to deficiencies or failures of the equipment.
- In scarce instances, security protocols could fail, causing a breach of privacy of personal medical information.
- In rare cases, a lack of access to complete medical records may result in adverse drug interactions, allergic reactions, or other judgment errors.
- You and your healthcare provider will not be in the same room, which may feel different from an office visit.
- Your healthcare provider may make a mistake because they cannot examine you as closely as at an office visit. (We do not know if mistakes are more common with telehealth visits.)
- Your healthcare provider may decide you still need an office visit if they feel that the information obtained via telemedicine was not sufficient to make a diagnosis.
- The video connection may not work, or it may stop working during the consultation.
- The video picture or information transmitted may not be clear enough to be useful for the consultation. Therefore, you may be required to visit the healthcare provider’s office.
- Not all networks are private and secure. It is the patient’s responsibility to ensure that the network and device used by the patient for telehealth services are secure and confidential.
Will my telehealth visit be private?
- Telehealth visits are not recorded. Your healthcare provider will take notes as usual in our secure electronic medical records system, which is separate from our telehealth technology.
- If people are near you, private information may be overheard by others. You should be in a private place so other people cannot hear you.
- Your healthcare provider will tell you if someone from their office can hear or see you.
- The Department of Health uses telehealth technology designed to protect your privacy. However, as with any internet-based communication, there is a minimal chance that someone could use technology to hear or see your telehealth visit.
What if I try telehealth and don’t like it?
- You can stop using telehealth any time, even during a telehealth visit. You can always schedule an office visit if you no longer want a telehealth visit.
- Your future care or treatment will not be affected if you choose not to opt for or stop telehealth.
How much does a telehealth visit cost? TestDepot does not charge for your initial telehealth consultation or for follow-up visits.