Telemedicine
Telemedicine is the use of technology to provide clinical health care at a distance. It is often used to bring health care to underserved populations that may not be able to travel to an office, that live in remote areas, or live far away from health facilities. But it has quickly become a convenient and helpful tool for many areas of healthcare. Telemedicine is more than just being able to see and talk with a patient through digital means though. It also means enhanced abilities to store and forward patient information, collect data, and have simultaneous interactions with patients as well as other physicians. Further, it can truly help in time management for both patient and physician.
In the aesthetic and dermatology field, telemedicine can be used to offer initial consults or post-treatment or follow-up sessions for patients that may be out of town, or unable to get to your office on a regular basis. Telemedicine can really improve the overall patient-doctor relationship, but it is not without its downsides. A digital consult or follow-up is truly no match for an in-person evaluation. You also have to be very careful around HIPAA compliance and patient privacy when partaking in telemedicine. Make sure you look up local laws around telemedicine as well.
Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
EMR Software helps consolidate practice management significantly. It helps streamline workflows by offering remote accessibility for medical history management and sharing. Technology for these continues to improve and can include the ability for your patient’s to schedule appointments, process payments, get reminders or other communications, and other customizations.
IOT and AI
There are new emerging technologies that will tell you how “attractive” your face is, or how you would look if you altered your face. Mobile apps, smart mirrors, and skin scanners are just some of the technologies available to consumers. It could be beneficial to the industry but it could also perpetuate unrealistic beauty expectations. We will have to wait and see how these technological advances will affect the industry both positively and negatively. At-home beauty devices will also continue to advance and become available to consumers. So skin-care obsessed consumers will be adding these devices into their daily regimens more and more.
Many times these devices can actually be dangerous if not used properly by an individual in the confines of their own bedroom or bathroom.
Technology will continue to advance and grow in 2020, which will have both positive and negative impacts on the aesthetic industry. It will impact how we interact with patients and how we treat them.