Suddenly telehealth and telemedicine has popped onto our radar. This technology has been around for a while and growing, however things are now rapidly advancing. The response to COVID-19 has put it on the fast-track. Expect to see rapid growth in this sector going forward. This is important for doctors and their patients as well as workers, executives and investors.
The COVID-19 crisis is rapidly creating new growth opportunities like this. President Donald Trump authorized $200 million for a TeleHealth fund in The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act or CARES. Next, the FCC Chair put a plan together and began to roll it out.
COVID-19 TeleHealth Program will provide immediate and long-term support to the healthcare community. It will empower doctors and hospitals to use virtual care as it fights coronavirus. Plus, it will provide new ways to deliver care moving forward.
This will open the door to a rapid transformation of the healthcare industry. Every doctor, surgeon and hospital will be able to communicate with patients as if they were in the same room even if they are on opposite sides of our country.
This current crisis will force the medical and healthcare industry to implement dramatic changes. Things we do today to protect our personal health, will become normal going forward.
AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, KORE, Qualcomm, Ericsson and others in telehealth
This new growth sector is very exciting for both the healthcare industry, and for the communications industry. This uses technology like wireless, 5G, wire line telecommunications, video communications and more. There are plenty of companies, large and small who are in this space.
Carriers like AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, KORE as well as many smaller companies will participate in this new opportunity.
So will medical equipment makers. They will partner with companies like Qualcomm, Ericsson, Intel, Nokia and more as they bring healthcare technology into the wireless and wire line world.
The term 5G healthcare or 5G wireless healthcare will become a widely used and understood name for this new sector.
5G healthcare will be the term widely used for this sector
With this new technology and new commitment, we will quickly see TeleHealth going mainstream, I think we can expect many more to join in this rapidly growing and always changing industry.
We’ve been talking about this segment for years. That being said, this area has not really seen the rapid growth we expected. That will change starting immediately thanks to this crisis and CARES.
It often takes a crisis to kick things into high gear. That’s what is happening today. There are real benefits to patients and doctors alike keeping a distance from each other yet still getting seen and treated.
Sometimes the best doctor is on the other side of the country. Other times like with this Covid-19 Pandemic, your own doctor can still see you, virtually. This is healthier for everyone.
Telehealth will continue to rapidly improve, just like your iPhone or Android smartphone has over the last decade.
We will find much will be changing to the way we have been doing things, and rapidly.
Telesurgery has been a new and growing sector. This will empower that sector to see rapid growth as well.
When COVID-19 passes, telehealth technology will continue
As we gear up to take care of patients today, we are building incredible capacity with TeleHealth services. So, when this crisis is over, all that capacity will be redirected in new and exciting ways.
This will transform the entire healthcare industry. It will transform the way we go to the doctor and get a checkup. It will be better for patients who sit and waste time in often contaminated waiting rooms.
The benefit is simple… keep the patient and the doctor and their staff healthy. Have a doctor visit from the safety of your home is germ free.
TeleDoc, ZocDoc, Cleveland Clinic, Kaiser Healthcare, TeleMedicine see growth
Companies like TeleDoc, ZocDoc, Nutrimedy, Beam, Hale Health, Zipnosis, SnapMD, Heal, Psyalive and plenty of other smaller companies in the space are seeing rapid growth.
So are larger and more established names like Cleveland Clinic, Kaiser Healthcare, WellStar and more. These are just a few of the many new opportunities we will discover going forward.
Others in healthcare are all the doctors and hospitals and in fact the entire healthcare industry. That means companies that make face masks, ventilators and all the gear needed in this battle.
The entire healthcare industry with HealthTech, TeleHealth, TeleMedicine, Digital Healthcare and other companies are busier than ever because of this health crisis.
We are rushing new technologies and new ways to deliver healthcare today. Ways we never needed as much as we do today.
Health apps, telehealth, digital healthcare will continue to grow
Health Apps which we use on our smartphones like iPhone and Android are becoming more popular with doctors and patients. It’s a way to get your numbers to your doctor without leaving the safety of your home.
So, as you can see, there is a silver lining to every cloud. Covid-19 is a crisis we are dealing with and will be for a while to come.
Today, the silver lining is finding the necessary businesses and opening the door to new technologies and ways of doing things. There is still growth if you know where to look.
There will be many other new ideas as we progress through this crisis. When things eventually get back to normal and the economy opens up once again, it will hopefully be full steam ahead.
But we should always remember the lessons we are learning here today. We are creating and jump starting many different industries, businesses and sector’s that are necessary, and which will continue to run when our economy is healthy and back to business.
One of the smartest things we can do is learn the important lessons and apply them to our lives going forward whether we are a worker, executive or investor.
