Revitalizing Your Virtual Care: Strategies for an Enhanced Telehealth Experience
Virtual healthcare may have started with online doctor visits, but it’s quickly evolved into much more than merely a remote way for providers to serve patients. Today, a vast array of telemedicine solutions are available, and more high-tech innovations keep emerging. Each new platform, device, system, or AI capability opens the door to a more fulfilling and all-inclusive healthcare experience.
This is great news if you’re seeking ways to improve your telemedicine setup and augment your virtual care platform offerings. There’s no shortage of ways to optimize your interactions and make a real impact on patients. With every piece of telehealth technology you integrate into your workflow, you can realize several key benefits.
For instance, you may find that your patients are more compliant about keeping appointments. Knowing they can cost-effectively and conveniently schedule appointments, be seen, pay their bills, and even email you reduces their physical (and emotional) barriers to care. Plus, you could discover that you can see more patients, allowing you to shorten wait times. This functionality helps lead to faster treatment of health concerns, ultimately promoting healthier patients.
Comprehensive telemedicine solutions also make your services more affordable for most patients. Patients who don’t have to pay as much, including in their co-pays, are more likely to get the preventative and urgent virtual care they need, including mental health screenings.
Perhaps best of all, you’ll position yourself and your organization as one that’s leading toward a more future-forward healthcare environment. That’s an attractive place to be, especially if you’re seeking new patients.
If you like the idea of updating your virtual care model beyond providing video visits for your current patients, consider implementing one or more of the following steps. All of them will assist you in moving closer to a stronger patient-provider relationship and a more empowered, informed, and involved patient population.
Integration with existing infrastructure and workflows
Telehealth platforms are designed to centralize information that providers and other healthcare stakeholders can use. The process can seem formidable when you first start researching telehealth platform partners. One way to simplify it is to look for a user-friendly telehealth platform solution capable of telehealth EHR integration with options to privately label the solution as your own. With this type of product, you’ll get the efficiency and function of an all-in-one portal, plus a chance to brand the experience.
Be sure to find a solution that can transfer data directly into your EHR, reducing the need for time-consuming manual data entry. The more streamlined the platform’s
ability to accurately self-populate information, the easier it will be for everyone to use. Additionally, you’ll reduce the possibility of error and compliance-related issues. And running reports will be simplified.
Explore adding integrated medical devices
What could make your real-time video consultations more powerful and clinically appropriate? Having access to immediate patient diagnostic information is one answer. Nowadays, it’s possible to garner clinical patient vitals remotely through connected devices (e.g., heart and lung sounds, images from an otoscope, and ECG reports).
This remote capability fosters your ability to further strengthen the patient (and provider) experience. With the insights that come from these devices, you can more confidently and correctly examine and assess your patients. You can ensure the device feedback goes into the patient’s EHR to be documented, stored, and retrieved as needed.
Promote awareness of your telehealth opportunities with community collaborations.
Patients of all ages are aware of virtual healthcare and how it works, and it’s steadily gaining popularity. However, you can’t assume everyone is familiar with virtual care services or their appeal. Consider collaborating with various nonprofits, businesses, and schools to get the word out about your unique options.
As a side note, making information on telehealth more available and accessible can be a great way to reach underserved or rural patients. If you’ve felt unable to scale your operations to meet the demands of all patients, forming relationships with community entities can help. People may be surprised to learn that they can have a full and rewarding remote encounter with you or members of your provider team from anywhere.
Every patient deserves the highest possible quality of care. The latest telemedicine and telehealth solutions can make it much easier to provide exceptional experiences for your patients and maximize the full potential of virtual health. The medicine of tomorrow is here Today — and you can harness it faster than you might have realized.
