Telemedicine is about close care in a remote setup. The term telemedicine refers to treatment of a medical conditions in a remote setup without seeing the patient in person using live video, audio, instant messaging or a telemedicine app to communicate with the patients and monitor or treat their condition remotely. Telemedicine is often used to treat common illnesses, manage chronic conditions, or provide specialist advise. If a patient is dealing with an emergent or serious condition, the remote provider will advise them to seek in-person medical care. Virtual care is a broader term and encompasses telemedicine.

Patient empowerment is a process through which people gain greater control over decisions and actions affecting their health. Healthcare providers can increase their patients’ involvement in many ways, such as sharing patient education materials and engaging them in the treatment plans. Patient empowerment increases health outcomes for patients across the board. Empowered patients tend to be more proactive irrespective of psychographic segmentation. Patients tend to adhere to the treatment plans and incorporate healthy behaviours into their lives, like prevention screenings, and improve their overall quality of life.

Quality of care is the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes.  It is based on evidence-based professional knowledge and is critical for achieving universal health coverage. As committing to increase accessibility of care, it is imperative to carefully consider the quality of care and health services.  Quality care must be effective (providing evidence-based timely healthcare services to those who need them), safe (avoiding harm to people for whom the care is intended in equitable manner) and people centred (providing care that responds to individual preferences, needs and values).