Though online health care seems like a recent trend after the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth and telemedicine practices go back centuries. The evolution of telehealth is closely related to telecommunications technology development.

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What This Article Covers:

• Early Days
• Pre-internet Technologies
• NASA & Government Funding
• Invention of the Internet
• Telehealth Today and the Future
• Next Steps

Early Days

When did the concepts of telehealth and telemedicine come into existence? Most of us would say at the start of COVID-19, right?

Although online care found overnight success during the pandemic, the history of telehealth goes a long way back.

Looking into the history of different technologies sheds a clear light on the different causes and reasons behind the evolution of telehealth. Today, almost every hospital and clinic across the U.S. offer some form of virtual health care.

However, new emerging technologies, such as videoconferencing solutions, are outpacing clinics and hospitals. This is in part due to the confusion and trust issues about the security and workings of telehealth.

But we’re here to show you there’s nothing to fear. And telehealth has really been around longer than you may think.

Pre-internet Technologies

Since its rise to prominence, telehealth has been restructuring the entire health care landscape. Accessing health care has never been this simple for people living in rural areas and regions with limited health care options, all thanks to technology.

The evolution of communications technology contains various milestones for telehealth development. Remote care, in some form, has been a reality since the inventions of the telegraph, telephone and radio.

Today, the picture is different. Telehealth software and telemedicine systems, such as videoconferencing tools and activity trackers, are already in use, with more modern technologies developing in the pipeline that will dominate telehealth. However, let’s look at some technologies that paved the way for modern telehealth.

Telegraph

In 1837, Samuel Morse invented the telegraph system to communicate over long physical distances. In subsequent days, care givers understood its application in health care delivery, as it played a massive role in warfare.

The telegraph was used during the Civil War for ordering medical supplies. In addition, generals also sent daily casualty reports to superiors through the technology.

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Telephone

The evolution ‌of home and community-based care goes back millennia. However, we can start with the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, as far as telehealth goes. It paved the way for a connected world and also allowed people and doctors to contact each other remotely.

Over the years, telephones became a part of the clinical system and played a critical role in reducing unnecessary office visits for patients beginning in the late 1800s.

In the 1940s, two towns in Pennsylvania sent radiology images via a telephone connection over a distance of 24 miles. This is, perhaps, the first example of a medical file transfer in recorded history.

Today, telephones are still an integral part of telehealth and telemedicine. Clinics and hospitals across the world use telephones to get in contact with patients or each other. Though newer communication technologies are on the horizon, it’s unlikely that telephone communication will become obsolete anytime soon.

Radio

The history of telemedicine and telehealth in the clinical setting starts with the radio. In the 1920s, treatment instructions were sent to ships via the radio. Two-way communication was setup between doctors and seafarers for delivering emergency care instructions.

The year 1928 deserves special mention as reverend John Flynn delivered health care throughout Australia through radio, the telegraph and airplanes. He founded the Aerial Medical Service (AMS) to carry out missions.

Going forward a few years, radio-based health care was actively employed during the U.S. and Korea War and the U.S. and Vietnam War, where medical teams were dispatched through radio communication.

Television

With the invention of television, the way people communicate has changed forever. It played a significant part in reducing telehealth barriers by enabling digital transmission of images.

The earliest form of telemedicine through television was recorded in the 1950s when the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute used television to monitor patients remotely. With closed-circuit television, psychiatrists could keep an eye on patients and record their activities from other rooms.

In 1959, the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute used televisions to provide group therapy, long-term therapy and medical student training to the Norfolk State Hospital.

The next development came in 1964, when both the parties partnered to set up a video link that worked two ways, therefore bridging the distance between them.

Researchers showed it was possible to carry out remote diagnoses with interactive television between ‌remote locations. Interactive television could display X-rays, lab reports and more.

Telemedicine history didn’t start with television. But it got a major boost because of the technology, and still today, we use visual connections to interact with ‌doctors and vice versa.

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NASA & Government Funding

In the late 1960s, the space race between two superpowers, the USSR and the U.S., was at full throttle. Both ‌countries aimed to put a person in space. But first, they had to find a solution to the question: how does the human body react in space?

Before the first human astronaut made it into space, ‌doctors were concerned about how the different organs in the human body might react out of Earth’s atmosphere.

To that end, the Soviet space program and NASA used telemetric links to monitor animals’ vitals while in space.

This began NASA’s involvement in developing telemedicine.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the U.S. federal government sanctioned seven telemedicine projects in hopes of finding a way to use technology to provide health care. Most of the projects were focused strictly on rural areas to make health care accessible through telemedicine.

One such project, another NASA endeavor, was the STARPAHC (Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Advanced Health Care) program that linked telemedicine with telecommunication technology.

The STARPAHC program proved that satellite telecommunications could be used for remote care. It also demonstrated that telemedicine could reduce the need to travel extensively for people looking for treatment. It gave an immense boost to the spread of telehealth in rural areas.

The STARPAHC program was a success that helped telemedicine to develop and reach greater heights.

In 1966, NASA’s Applications Technology Satellite (ATS-1) played an active role in opening up telemedicine possibilities to remote areas in Alaska — yet another telehealth development by NASA.

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Invention of the Internet

Then came the greatest revolution — the internet. It changed the way humans communicated forever. The internet is the backbone of telehealth. From connecting devices to transferring files, every application is dependent on the internet.

It cracked the code of telemedicine. With the internet, clinicians could transmit medical images and large quantities of data over long distances. It helped expand telemedicine’s reach beyond big cities and well-connected localities.

With the internet, digitization began rapidly. Electronic data was ‌easier to manage and transmit. The world adopted the internet at a rapid pace and very soon every house and office was connected. Improved digital connectivity has opened the door for care providers to offer telemedicine benefits to patients.

The internet holds a special place in telemedicine history. In the following decades, telehealth has undergone major transformations, but the internet is still essential for setting up remote health care services.

Telehealth Today and the Future

Today, telemedicine and telehealth are popular methods of remote care delivery across the U.S. From small clinics to large hospitals, telehealth services have made their way into the entire care continuum.

Though much of the idea is the same, telehealth technologies have become more compact and stable. Laptops, tablets and mobile phones are connecting care providers with other medical professionals and patients with just a tap of a button.

In addition, internet bandwidth is better, making it easier for people in remote areas to contact care providers and setup online appointments. Technologies like wearables, Fitbits and more help medical professionals and patients stay on top of patient vitals.

The future of telehealth and telemedicine looks bright as the remote care trend continues to grow.

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Next Steps

Today, online health care delivery is growing in popularity in the medical community — newer applications and adoption policies are coming to light with each passing year. Home monitoring programs, Fitbits and other remote monitoring systems can provide doctors with 24/7 updates about patient health.

As telecommunications technology continues to develop, the scope of telehealth will also continue to expand. The basic goals of telehealth require a good telecommunications technology framework to succeed.

Looking for telehealth software? Consult our comparison guide to learn about the industry leaders and top software.

How do you think telehealth will expand in the future? Let us know in the comments below.