_Telehealth and how it may impact real estate
When did it start?
Telehealth is a relatively new phenomenon, but the concept first started being tabled in the late 1800’s which discussed the use of telephone to reduce visits to clinics. In the 1950s radiology images were being sent via telephone lines and in 1960 closed circuit television was connected for consultations. From a practical perspective, the real push for telehealth began in 2014 and is gradually being adopted and implemented by healthcare service providers. In terms of size, the telemedicine sector is still in its infancy, as of 2018 the market size stood at US$ 4.5bn (world spend) with approximately 7 million users.
Has it been adopted in Dubai?
The DHA has introduced regulations and licensing permits for telemedicine operators and also have adopted the use of telemedicine in its own network. As a pilot project, a robot has been placed in Hatta Hospital's emergency department, it is linked to Rashid Hospital's Trauma Centre – this allows specialists from the Trauma Centre to provide consultations for a patient in Hatta hospital.
In addition, the government is encouraging the private sector and international healthcare service providers to introduce this technology to help broaden their penetration in Dubai and the wider region. Since the implementation of these regulations, Dubai has witnessed entry of a few telehealth service providers and they are operating out of office premises, instead of taking up traditional ground floor retail space.
What are the advantages?
- The potential in this area is immense and can pave the way for collaboration of domestic healthcare operators with other internationally renowned healthcare providers.
- In critical cases, use of telehealth may also result in the saving of lives as real time specialist guidance can be provided in order to stabilize a patient in healthcare facilities which do not have adequate specialists
- It may help reduce outbound medical tourism and can attract medical tourist to the country as well
- Expedites the access to care without the patient leaving their home
What are the disadvantages?
- The patient may miss the personal touch when consulting via a screen
The impact on the real estate sector
- The practical advantage of this method of care is that it provides immediate access to a healthcare professional, restricts travel to a healthcare service provider on a need basis and reduces the burden in the outpatient department of healthcare facilities.
- As telemedicine becomes a common phenomenon, healthcare providers would need to reconfigure their facilities and the way they undertake business. The most obvious impacts are presented in the lines below:
- Hospital buildings: area requirements of hospitals would scale down – with telemedicine catering to outpatient consultation, need for the current number of clinics and in turn waiting areas, car parking, staff common areas, back office etc. would significantly reduce.
- Hub and spoke model: some hospitals have established clinics around the city to cater to their patients, these clinics refer patients back to the hospital for treatments. As telemedicine is adopted, patients would switch from going to the nearest clinic, to staying in the comfort of their home and logging on to the telemedicine application for their treatment. Success of this model of care will have a significant impact on current physical spoke model and in the long run these may be replaced with digital spokes.