What is telemedicine? What is telehealth? Who should use telemedicine? What are the pros and cons? Board-Certified Emergency Medicine Physician, Dr. Jordan Wagner, explains everything you need to know about telemedicine.

A new study published in the Annals of Family Medicine found that patients who were offered primary care telemedicine during a pilot program in Pennsylvania experienced high satisfaction with the service.

"Most participants reported a positive experience with video visits, citing conveniences of not having to miss work, travel, or change attire. One patient explained, 'You’re sitting right in your room on your computer. How much more convenient can that be? And you don’t even have to take a shower. I mean you can get on the computer, talk to the doctor, go back to bed.'"

How's your relationship with your doctor? According to one study, the better the relationship, the better it is for your health.

Study results indicated that as doctor-patient relationships improved, so did patients' health outcomes. Patients lost weight or saw their blood pressure levels drop, just for examples. Researchers believe the good communication and related health improvements were equal to the benefit of taking a daily aspirin to lower heart attack risk.

Consumers and physicians are rapidly embracing virtual visits in healthcare and how they can help reduce costs and better manage their own healthcare. Accenture published a new study in Feb. 2017 called, "Consumer Demand for Virtual Health Services is Growing” which highlighted that 78 percent of those surveyed said they would be interested in receiving healthcare virtually some or most of the time"

Millenials see telehealth as a critical component of their health care, and providers and payers need to emphasize convenience if they are going to stay relevant in a changing health care industry, according to a recent report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.