System Analysis: The Role of Telehealth in Rural Healthcare

The essay discusses the significant role of Telehealth in modernizing rural healthcare. It highlights how Telehealth overcomes barriers such as distance, cost, and time that hinder access to medical services in remote areas. The analysis identifies key challenges including administrative reluctance, technical issues, and infrastructural deficits that impede Telehealth adoption. Despite these hurdles, the essay emphasizes Telehealth's capability to provide immediate assessments, extend primary care outreach, facilitate follow-ups via digital platforms, and reduce patient transit burdens. It concludes by underscoring the benefits of Telehealth in reducing hospital dependency, optimizing resource use, and providing at-home access to specialist consultations, thus revolutionizing rural healthcare delivery.

Running head: SYSTEM ANALYSIS
System Analysis
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

1SYSTEM ANALYSIS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Problem............................................................................................................................................2
Capabilities......................................................................................................................................3
Benefits............................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

2SYSTEM ANALYSIS
Introduction
The current assignment focuses on the importance of Telehealth within the current health
scenario. Telehealth has emerged as a boon within the rural health care scenario. It has been
noted that owing to a number of limitations people located in rural and distant places are not able
to avail sufficient health services. Some of these factors are distant, time and cost which often
limit the accessibility to healthcare services. Therefore, the implementation of Telehealth enables
the provision of care services in much real time and convenient manner.
Problem
There are a number of challenges faced in the implementation of telehalth services within
rural areas. Some of these are lack of sufficient administrative engagement where not every
member of the executive team could foresee the opportunities offered by the incorporation of
Telehealth and telemedicine. As commented by Burch, Gray & Sharp (2017), not every payor
within the medical set up are willing to pay for the valuable proposition.
The second issue which may be faced over here is facing technical glitches in the
delivery of healthcare services. In this respect, the physicians may disapprove of depending too
much upon technology for provision of healthcare services to their patients. The reasons for the
same are the technical glitches, which sometimes disrupt the internet connectivity resulting in
sudden break within the sessions leading to dissatisfactory services and disengagement of
patients (Bradford, Caffery & Smith, 2016).
The third and the major form of issue which may be faced over here is the lack of
sufficient infrastructural support. The lack of funds and suitable environment within the care

3SYSTEM ANALYSIS
setup does not allow for the implementation of sophisticated technologies (Jang-Jaccard, Nepal,
Alem & Li, 2014). There are additional sustainability issues with the implementation of
Telehealth facilities within rural infrastructure. The biggest issue that lies over here is the lack of
reimbursement, which could keep the process going to mitigate the additional costs. However,
for the realization of the immense capabilities of the telehealth services sufficient collaboration
across rural region with emergency departments of nearby hospitals via videoconferencing needs
to be set up.
Capabilities
There are a number of potential benefits of Telehealth in empowering rural health and
provide maximum support to the people. As commented by Weinstein et al. ( 2014), navigating
between various online and in-person resources can lead to confusion and service abandonment.
Therefore, Telehealth allows immediate assessment through triage. In case of primary care
services the patients are first attended by a nurse, attendant or general physician. In the context of
immediate concern the call is transferred through warm transfer to a telehealth specialist.
However, for critical and complex care the patients are directly booked for in-person treatment at
a healthcare facility or nursing homes (Weinstein et al., 2014).
The telehealth can extend and improve primary care by widening the outreach
capabilities of the healthcare services. A patient availing telehealth services can request for
follow up appointments online or palce demand for the same through a telehealth brokerage
engine. It eases the procedure of therapy adjustments through virtual support system such mobile
platforms for informing about the changed schedules and the appointments to the patient
population. Telehealth reduces transit burdens on patients with reduced mobility

4SYSTEM ANALYSIS
Benefits
There are a number of benefits of telehealth services which had been discussed in more
details over here. The implementation of such services within the rural set up means that the
patients are regularly in touch with the physicians without actually travelling to the centers. As
mentioned by Bradford, Caffery & Smith (2016), the implementation of telehealth services can
actually reduce the burden of unnecessary hospital administration reducing pressure on the
limited resources. The Telehealth services can allow transfer of health data in much real time.
These could be used by the patient population for getting quick advice across referral windows to
specialist care services. The telehealth care services can also be a charged allowing sufficient
collection of fees over each visit. Therefore, such initiatives could address the concern over
getting sustainability reimbursements over long term.
Conclusion
Therefore, the telehalth services can actually change the scenario of health care services
by providing easy to use, on the go access to medical consultation by the patients. It is
particularly useful in reaching out to patients located at distant rural regions and who cannot
easily afford costly visits at hospitals. The implementation of such services reduces the
dependency on hospitals and reduces the excessive burden on healthcare. Moreover, one of the
most positive effects of the incorporation of Telehealth services is that the same could be used
for receiving expert opinions within the boundaries of one’s home.

5SYSTEM ANALYSIS
References
Bradford, N. K., Caffery, L. J., & Smith, A. C. (2016). Telehealth services in rural and remote
Australia: a systematic review of models of care and factors influencing success and
sustainability. Rural and remote health, 16(4), 3808.
Burch, S., Gray, D., & Sharp, J. (2017). The power and potential of telehealth what health
systems should know: proposed legislation in Congress offers the promise that the
nation's healthcare policy will support the expansion of telehealth, allowing hospitals and
health systems to fully realize the benefits of this important emerging approach to
care. Healthcare Financial Management, 71(2), 46-50.
Jang-Jaccard, J., Nepal, S., Alem, L., & Li, J. (2014). Barriers for delivering telehealth in rural
Australia: a review based on Australian trials and studies. Telemedicine and e-
Health, 20(5), 496-504.
Weinstein, R. S., Lopez, A. M., Joseph, B. A., Erps, K. A., Holcomb, M., Barker, G. P., &
Krupinski, E. A. (2014). Telemedicine, telehealth, and mobile health applications that
work: opportunities and barriers. The American journal of medicine, 127(3), 183-187.