The scourge of cancer continues to affect people in the United States, with an estimated 19 million new diagnoses in 2022 alone. Over the past century, countless people have believed that medical research would help drive the search for new treatments and the hope for an eventual cure for cancer. And while this belief does hold some truth, there has been a renewed focus on the role of health technology in discovering treatments and eventual cures. 

One of the most significant tech moves in the healthcare space — particularly in the last few years — has been telemedicine. Its efficacy and popularity ballooned during the pandemic, with telehealth encounters growing over 700% in the first three months. 

Now, there is growing support for the benefits of telemedicine for those experiencing a cancer diagnosis as well. Dr. Mona Jhaveri, founder and director of Music Beats Cancer, a non-profit cancer research funding organization, believes the current labyrinthian process that patients must undergo to receive a referral, see a doctor, and have their prescriptions filled is one that is long overdue for change. 

“With telemedicine, it’s easier than ever to get access to help and medications,” Dr. Jhaveri explains. “Telemedicine has made the entire process faster and more affordable for millions of people.”

The benefits of telemedicine 

When one receives a new cancer diagnosis, time is often of the essence. Depending on what stage they may be experiencing — and if the cancer has spread — patients may only have a matter of days or weeks to arrange comprehensive care and prescription delivery, but the referral and scheduling process can be frustratingly complex and time-consuming. In addition, waiting weeks to see a specialist is something most cancer patients cannot afford. 

With telemedicine, patients can gain faster and more efficient access to the referrals and specialists they need, especially those living in rural or remote areas. Through teleconferencing, patients do not need to leave their homes in order to speak to doctors, attend appointments, or receive referrals. Instead, the patient’s team of specialists can often be one click away, saving precious time and upwards of thousands of dollars over the course of one’s cancer treatment. 

In a recent study, it was shown that the average telemedicine visit saves patients between $147 to $186 per incident. Telemedicine also provides patients with significant savings in regard to travel costs, medical visit expenses, and lost income from having to miss work. 

According to Dr. Jhaveri, telemedicine is also remarkably beneficial for pharmaceutical services. “While prescription deliveries have been a standard in cancer care for some time,” she says, “advances in telemedicine have allowed physicians to better virtually monitor progress and quickly change prescriptions that may not be effective for a patient.” She adds that, with telemedicine, pharmacists can also take a larger role on a patient’s cancer care team, gaining virtual access to patients in order to answer questions and monitor their use of medications. 

Dr. Jhaveri and Music Beats Cancer recently joined forces with TeleMedicX to raise funds for their HIPPA-compliant telemedicine platform VirtualCliniX, with the aim to provide faster access referrals for cancer patients on the islands of Hawaii. Because many areas of Hawaii are remote, the capabilities of telemedicine are especially welcomed. With Music Beats Cancer, Dr. Jhaveri has been able to find potential solutions to funding issues for telemedicine technologies like what TeleMedicX is offering to the islands’ residents. 

“For cancer patients living far from state-of-the-art medical hubs, locating and transferring medical records to healthcare specialists is daunting, so half of all patients simply discontinue the care they need,” Dr. Jhaveri stated in a recent press release about Music Beats Cancer’s partnership.  

For patients with cancer, healing cannot possibly come without access. This is the cause Music Beats Cancer is hoping to shed light on. 

Breaking through the funding bottleneck

Though telemedicine lends itself to cost savings in the long run, there is an upfront cost for providers who wish to implement the technology for their patients — one of the major hurdles that telemedicine implementation must overcome. Because the widespread use of telemedicine is still in its relative infancy, insurance companies have been slow to adapt their coverage policies, while some have even rolled back coverage after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Dr. Jhaveri is no stranger to having run into funding bottlenecks, herself. In fact, those bottlenecks are the entire reason why she first founded Music Beats Cancer. 

As Dr. Jhaveri told Entrepreneur’s Break, “Before I started a crowdfunding charity, I launched a biotech to produce a cure for ovarian cancer. A funding bottleneck stood between academic research and real-world innovation, and I experienced it first-hand,” she says. “I knew we faced a systemic problem in funding the war on cancer, and everyone in the industry knew it as well. I had a gut feeling things would change if the public became aware.”

The public became acutely aware of the life-saving impact telemedicine had during the pandemic. Now that its benefits have been so heavily publicized, Dr. Jhaveri is hopeful that funding efforts will be well-received — especially for cancer patients who stand to most benefit from the time and money savings that telemedicine provides. 

Growth potential

Even though the pandemic has waned, those in the cancer treatment space have continued to recognize and champion the benefits of continued telemedicine use. Dr. Jhaveri began Music Beats Cancer as a way to increase cancer treatment accessibility and transform funding, and the incredible growth potential of telemedicine for cancer care is a core focus of hers going into 2024. 

“It’s going to be a field that expands and will have its place in medicine,” Dr. Jhaveri explains. “It has been especially fruitful in areas where people are underserved or for people at or below the poverty line.” 

Indeed, poverty has been shown to be a risk factor for certain cancers, making accessible and affordable access to one’s medical team and prescriptions even more important. 

Music Beats Cancer has made tremendous strides in platforming innovation, revolutionizing cancer screening, and raising awareness. Those who are fighting cancer, be they patients or providers, cannot afford to weather the funding gaps that stand in the way of innovation. Through strategic partnerships and continued support from independent music artists, Dr. Jhaveri and Music Beats Cancer will continue to champion and fund technology that can truly enhance access to treatment and the betterment of the quality of life for cancer patients.