Telemedicine has exploded in popularity over the past decade, especially since 2020. But is it really all it’s cracked up to be? In this post, we’ll explore the 7 top benefits of working in telemedicine. Let’s get started:
#1 Work from Home
Obviously, the ability to work from home is the major benefit everyone talks about. And they’re not wrong!
When you’re at home, you can have your desk set-up exactly right. Your lighting exactly how you want it. Your temperature set just so. You can have music playing in the background… or none at all.
Fundamentally, you can optimize your environment to be exactly what you want it to be all the time. That’s such a major benefit, it has to be #1 for working in telemedicine!
#2 Being Near Family
When you’re in telemedicine, you can often spend much more time with family depending on your setup. If you have kids at home, that can be a huge plus where you get to see them much more often. It’s no wonder why almost every worker, especially since 2020, feels that they really value work from home and why these jobs tend to be extremely attractive to workers.
#3 Less Stress
The next benefit is less stress — It seems obvious, but there’s a lot more factors involved that just being at home. One is simply your (lack of) commute. Another one is the stress of running around the clinic. As doctors, we’ve all experienced working in a clinic or hospital, where you’re running around, getting called and paged, and a constant sense of being pulled in every direction by clinical demands.
Another factor with stress is the rare but unfortunate reality of combative patients. Unfortunately, many of us have at some point had a patient threaten us or even become violent. And don’t forget other physical risks like infection transmission or needle stick injuries.
Obviously those things are, thankfully, rare. But that is always a risk that stays in the back of your mind.
So, all those factors are minimized or eliminated by working from home, you have a lot less stress of all those other factors of working and person in the clinic.
#4 Controlling Your Schedule
Another benefit is being able to control your own schedule. When you’re working remotely you can truly design your lifestyle and your schedule to be exactly what you want it to be. You work the exact hours you want to work. No more, no less.
You want to work ultra-part-time? And optimize spending time with your kids or spouse? Working on a side project? Staying physically fit?
All those things are possible when working remotely. Or, you can instead decide you want to work all the time and make as much money as possible. (All from the comfort of home).
#5 Tax Benefits for Telemedicine
Another key benefit a lot of doctors don’t think about is the tax benefits of owning your business. Let me explain:
A large number of telemedicine doctors are going to be working as 1099 independent contractors. Or running their own clinic remotely. If you’re doing that, it essentially makes you a business owner, at least in the eyes of the IRS. And that unlocks a whole new world of tax deductions and write-offs you can take to optimize your financial life.
(You can check out some of my other resources for tax optimization on this blog)
It can all be overwhelming at first, but once you get past the hurdle of understanding it all, it quickly becomes one of the most powerful ways to optimize your finances. All of a sudden you feel like you have so much more autonomy and ownership over your work and income – which brings us to our next point…
#6 Agency in Your Work
When you’re working as an entrepreneur, you start to see your medical practice and indeed the whole world in a different way. You realize you don’t have to do something just because it’s the conventional path. You almost feel like you have more agency in your work as a physician.
Don’t get me wrong – you still have to work hard! But you have so much more freedom to design your life and your practice however would be best for both you and your patients.
#7 Travel as a Telemedicine Physician
You read that right! You might not have expected it, but travel is one of the most important benefits that telemedicine physicians always love.
In my experience, many people who work remote also tend to love traveling — whether that’s around the world, or locally in their area. That’s certainly true for me. And it’s been a huge factor for me in choosing to work remotely as a radiologist.
You can experience other cultures, other cities, countries, architecture, art — just so many cool things. Even hiking in the great outdoors. There’s so many amazing places to see in this wide world, and not enough time to do it. As just one example, why not do what I did and visit Florence, Italy?
As a remote worker, you can easily learn travel hacks and find a community of people that love exploring new and exciting places
It’s just so much easier when you don’t have a set clinic schedule each day that you have to plan far in advance.
In Summary
So, those are the biggest benefits that I’ve found working in telemedicine — and I think you will too. Let me know if I should have added any other ones