Telemedicine for pediatrics: 
a comprehensive overview

Telemedicine for pediatrics: a comprehensive overview

January 5, 2023

Sergey Ivanov
by Sergey Ivanov, Head of Healthcare Center of Excellence

Telemedicine solutions allow parents to reach out to a medical specialist whenever they need without leaving home. Pediatric practices also benefit from the development of telemedicine solutions, allowing them to expand the reach of their services and offer more flexible working schedules to their employees. 

Telemedicine solutions for pediatrics connect families with children in need of health care with providers anywhere at any time. Pediatric telehealth platforms usually consist of audio and video conferencing tools as well as other means of communication between clinicians and patients.

Pediatric telehealth key market facts

growth of telehealth visits 2019-2020

Frontiersin

children used telemedicine in 2020

CDC

expected pediatric telehealth market CAGR between 2022 and 2027

ReportLinker

The architecture of a pediatric telemedicine solution

Pediatric telehealth solutions tend to have complex architectures. To help you better understand how it works, we provide a simplified scheme that shows its key elements.

Patients
Parents, guardians, or other caregivers
Doctors and nurses
Admins
Informational dashboard for different user groups
Cloud server for data storage and processing
Video and audio streaming servers
Pediatric EHR
or
or
Other 3d party apps (payment gateways, electronic prescription software, etc.)
Medical imaging systems
Remote patient monitoring devices
Laboratory information systems

Key functionality of telemedicine for pediatrics

While every platform is different, most of them possess basic functionality for providing effective virtual care.

Communication

    • One-on-one video and audio consultations
    • Video group therapy sessions
    • Chats for synchronous and asynchronous communication
    • Recordings of therapy sessions or consultations
    • Pre-visit or annual check-up questionnaires

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    Essential integrations for pediatrics telemedicine

    Though the basic pediatric telemedicine platform is enough to securely connect patients to pediatric practices, by integrating it with other medical software, medical providers can create a virtual hospital and provide a level of care comparable to in-person visits.

    Pediatric EHR
    Patient monitoring devices
    Pharmacy management software
    Medical data analytics software
    Pediatric telemedicine solution
    Billing and insurance management solutions
    Medical image software
    Practice management software
    Laboratory management systems

    Enables pediatricians access to patients’ full medical history

    Supplies care providers with patients’ vitals, helps conduct remote examinations, and alerts patients and doctors about condition changes

    Pharmacy management software

    Simplifies medication prescriptions, orders, and re-fills and helps patients adhere to their treatment plan

    Medical data analytics software

    Contributes to the accuracy of diagnostics and helps predict future developments

    Billing and insurance management solutions

    Simplifies pediatric care reimbursements

    Medical image software

    Allows clinicians and patients access to CT scans, X-rays, ultrasounds and other medical images

    Practice management software

    Simplifies delegating tasks to medical personnel and scheduling patient appointments

    Laboratory management systems

    Delivers test results faster to patients and their care providers

    Real-life examples of telemedicine in pediatrics

    NightLight Connect is a pediatric telemedicine platform available across Texas. It allows patients to get urgent and after-hours medical attention from their primary care physician (PCP) or a NightLight provider. Virtual visits can be scheduled every day from 9 AM to midnight, in both English and Spanish. The platform offers teledermatology and virtual treatment for such conditions as rashes, allergies, cold, asthma, pink eye, digestive problems, flu, and others, with prescriptions sent directly to the patient's local pharmacy. In addition, NightLight offers a Lab Pass to let patients get tests from a laboratory located nearby without waiting in line to diagnose and treat conditions like urinary tract infections and strep throat.

    Pediatric telehealth implementation roadmap

    Even though there are numerous telemedicine platforms on the market, pediatricians often get a custom-built solution or tweak an out-of-the-box platform to cover their unique needs. To implement a telehealth solution, pediatric organizations usually go through the following five stages:

    1

    Requirements gathering

    A team of healthcare specialists work together with the IT department or a consultant to understand the main requirements the healthcare organization has for the software.

    2

    Project planning

    The organization’s representatives and the vendor’s team draw up a detailed plan of the implementation process that consists of hardware and network preparation, solution installation, integration, and post-implementation tuning.

    3

    Development

    A secure and compliant software is developed by the vendor with interface matching the organization's brand style. During this stage, the solution is also connected with necessary third-party services and tested to fix any bugs and review the software’s quality.

    4

    Deployment and training

    The developers install the telehealth solution into the organization's IT ecosystem. They or a third-party consultant can also conduct training sessions for personnel at this stage.

    5

    Support and modernization

    Most vendors offer post-implementation support to resolve any issues that come up during their solution’s usage. They can also upgrade the telemedicine solution as the organization grows and new technologies come to the market.

    Why apply telemedicine for pediatrics

    Even though telehealth software in pediatrics gained popularity during the COVID pandemic, today it offers more advantages than contactless communication.

    Stronger doctor-patient relationships

    Telehealth bridges gaps in the continuity of care, allowing pediatric clients to feel more secure knowing they can consult a specialist when needed. Children also get very frustrated with frequent change of a medical team, and visiting the same doctors and nurses even when the family moves houses or is on vacation does wonders for their mental health. Moreover, most caregivers appreciate the ability to consult about their child’s health without taking time off from work. 

    All of the above contributes to the patient's satisfaction with the pediatric practice, which in turn improves their loyalty, trust, and willingness to continue using the telemedicine services of a particular provider.

    Scheme title: Telemedicine Patient Satisfaction scores from children with diabetes and their parents. Data source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov—Patient Satisfaction of Telemedicine in Pediatric and Young Adult Type 1 Diabetes Patients During Covid-19 Pandemic, 22 Mar 2022.

    Embrace telemedicine to enhance your pediatric care

    Embrace telemedicine to enhance your pediatric care

    Most patients tried some kind of telehealth services during the pandemic and now want to continue using telemedicine due to its round-the-clock accessibility, ease of use, and the reduced risk of getting sick in the waiting room. Telemedicine is especially welcomed in pediatrics, because children get sick often, but parents might worry that the symptoms are not worth a visit to the doctor. If you want to provide continuous care for your patients, expand your patient base, and reduce the pressure on the medical personnel, consider telemedicine software to complement your in-person care. Getting started might seem complicated, so Itransition’s experts are here to help you choose the best-fitting option and carry out its implementation end-to-end, providing personnel training in the end to teach you the ropes of telemedicine.

    Embrace telemedicine to enhance your pediatric care

    Innovate your pediatric services with a custom telehealth solution from Itransition

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    FAQs about telemedicine for pediatrics

    Telemedicine is a relatively new technology for the healthcare industry, so both care providers and patients have many questions about it. We gathered the most commonly asked ones for our experts to answer.

    How much does telemedicine solution implementation cost?

    Is telemedicine covered by Medicare?

    Is my child’s personal information safe with telemedicine apps?