The Major Difference between Telehealth and Telemedicine

At first glance, both telehealth and telemedicine seem very similar terms, that however, cannot be any further from the truth. Today the fields of Mobile IT health, digital health and telemedicine are changing so rapidly, that it is hard to settle on one accurate definition for these terms, hence you will see both Telemedicine and Telehealth being used interchangeably. 

Both terms consist of very similar services which include patient monitoring, e-health, medical education, patient consultation etc. If you really want to get to technical with the terms then Telemedicine is a subset of Telehealth. 

Telehealth, on the other hand is much broader term in scope which includes all telecommunication services that offer or engage in health care. Telemedicine refers only to clinical services.

Here’s a definition that could clear your mind on the concept:

Telemedicine refers to traditional clinical diagnosis and screening provided by technology, whereas Telehealth encompasses many different types of diagnosis, management and education. Telehealth concerns itself with many different range of telemedicine services which include both clinical and non-clinical services. 

Telehealth being the more popular term can be found in general health care services, while Telemedicine deals specifically with a clinician that provides a very specific kind of health service.

Examples of Telehealth

• A video conferencing platform for consultation and education
• A health app that alerts people of impending outbreak
• Fit Bits that monitor your pulse and heart rate

Example of Telemedicine

• An app that helps physicians treat their patients remotely via video conferencing
• A software that allows patients to send photos of a rash or a mole that has been bothering them to their doctors.
• An app that schedules appointments with doctors within minutes.

As you can see Telemedicine is simply a small part of telehealth. Telemedicine has become even more popular and is being widely consumed thanks to the recent COVID-19 outbreak. If anything, it has proved its worth in times of emergency and will gain further validity once the pandemic is defeated.

DENmaar’sTeleHealth Services

At DENmaar, our telehealth solution offers both patients and providers with a communication technology that allows the access and management of health care services from homes of patients or the practices of doctors.  This tele-conferencing feature allows practitioners to attend to their patients, on their computer screens, where-in they can consult and serve their clients without having to make them wait in their clinics or making them transit long distances. 

All you have to do to access our feature, whether you are a provider or patient, is to sign up to our app and avail our telepsych feature.