Last year, I was sitting at a conference room table with high-level administrators at a major hospital. They were looking for ways to use telemedicine to improve care coordination, decrease readmissions, and bring down length of stay. They were thrilled about iClickCare because, as they said, "This is something our providers would actually enjoy using."

Their main concern before moving forward with iClickCare? "It's too inexpensive."

At first we were concerned -- did they mean the solution wasn't complete enough? "No," they confirmed, "It's actually much more complete and adaptable than other solutions. It's just that our board is expecting a much more expensive purchase, with a large hardware outlay."

As counterintuitive as that experience was, the sentiment is not uncommon. So many times, we think that expensive hardware is the "right" way to approach a problem.

Similarly, recent studies are showing that time, physical activity, and over-the-counter ibuprofen is the best possible treatment for back pain. Not surgery, not an MRI, not opioids. And as healthcare providers, we know that prescribing "go for a run, take some Advil, and don't call me for a few months" may well be a harder pill for a patient to swallow than, well, a bottle of pills. 

Telemedicine does not depend on expensive hardware and high-end cameras, just as most treatment for back pain doesn't depend on surgery or medication. The unglamorous truth is that telemedicine success comes from people working together effectively -- and the medical collaboration tool has to be simple and effective enough to allow that to happen. 

Just as a great healthcare provider uses the least invasive treatment that will be effective, we believe the simplest telemedicine solution is usually the best one. And we know that for a lot of healthcare providers, that's a pretty big relief.

If you're ready for a simpler solution for telemedicine and healthcare collaboration, try iClickCare for free: