Health Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Health Psychology - Essay Example This is because information on healthcare issue is available to anyone from any location. According to Moffat & Eley (2010) increased access to healthcare services in areas that previously had limited access is one of the advantages of using telemedicine in Australia. In essence, rural Australians have been able to gain more access to clinical services, a factor that may eventually lead to a reduction in the discrepancies between urban and rural healthcare quality in Australia. The cost-effectiveness of telemedicine in Australia cannot be underestimated. Georgeff (2007) writes that the use of telemedicine could save the government approximately 1.5 billion U.S dollars that are used per annum to treat people with chronic illnesses. Moffat & Eley (2010) add that apart from reduced costs on the part of the government, patients have also had to pay less for clinical services. In addition, the burden of having to physically go to a health center in order to get clinical services has been reduced. This is especially so, for the aged and for people suffering from chronic illnesses. On the other hand, there are several barriers that limit the uptake of telemedicine in Australia. Funding, as Robertson et.al states (2011), is a major hindrance as most practitioners use outdated resources to conduct consultations due lack of funds to buy and update resources. Consequently, many practitioners prefer to use paper formats that are provided freely by pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, practitioners claim that there are no financial incentives in telemedicine, as most consultations conducted using this method are not reimbursed and extra time is not compensated (Moffat & Eley, 2011). Time- It requires a lot of time for a telemedicine consultation, thus increasing the workload of doctors. According to Robertson et.al (2011) doctors would prefer that clinical information be integrated into their normal clinical software, since logging in and off while