Are you worried about the effectiveness of telehealth? Not sure if it’s worth implementing into your practice? Take this statistic into consideration - in March of 2020, as the Coronavirus pandemic was just being declared as a pandemic, only 13% of members of the American Association of Family Physicians offered telehealth. By May of 2020, that number had grown to 94%. That's a sharp increase of 81% in just two months. If you do not currently offer a telehealth program, it’s safe to say you are behind the times.
Telehealth is a great program to offer—one that increases both patient satisfaction as well as patient engagement. When you eliminate the accessibility barriers that so many patients experience, be it a lengthy commute, extended wait times to be seen or both - you are setting your practice up for successful growth. You will also substantially increase your team’s productivity in terms of the number of patients you are able to see daily, and the time commitment required with each visit.
This brings us to the crux of this blog - how to grow your practice with telehealth. There are four main types of telehealth visits - video-enabled, phone calls, secure text-based messaging, and mobile monitoring. The first two are the most common, but the last two are great ways to offer immediate support to your patients and to monitor your patients who need specialized attention.
Let’s examine these four types of telehealth practices and how they can grow your business.
Video Enabled Virtual Visits
Video-enabled virtual visits bring you face to face with your patients via a video camera. These visits can be accessed by your patients from any video-enabled device. They can be conducted in a patient’s home, or on-site at a healthcare facility. All that is required is a strong and secure internet connection. Depending on the state you practice in, you may also be required to record your virtual video visits.
Video-enabled telehealth visits allow you to see more patients each day, while also granting your patients easier access to your care. This boosts your patient’s satisfaction and enables them to take ownership of their health. Both of these factors are essential to growing your business with telehealth.
Phone Calls
Telehealth visits do not require face-to-face screen time. In fact, you can conduct regular check-in visits with your patients with just a phone call. This is ideal for mental health providers who simply need to hear their patient’s voice via a short conversation and for medication management. Phone calls tend to be the quickest telehealth visits and are convenient for you and your patients. They allow you to conduct more visits each day while also taking only a minimum amount of time from your patient’s day.
Secure Messaging
Secure text-based message telehealth is a great resource to offer your patients immediate access to your care. It’s also beneficial for patients who are without access to a video-enabled device. These telehealth visits often take place within your online patient portal and allow you to check in with your patients for quick answers to wellness questions. Many telehealth messaging apps also allow picture sharing. This is helpful when you need to see pictures of a physical health concern such as a rash.
Secure telehealth messaging grants the most basic of healthcare access to your patients, allowing you to easily address those whose health concerns may otherwise go unattended. This grows both your patient count, as well as your community status.
Mobile Monitoring
Remote mobile monitoring allows you to track the status of your patients who require extra attention. This could be heart patients who recently suffered a heart attack and need EKG monitoring or obstetrician patients who need pregnancy monitoring via urine analysis.
Mobile monitoring devices vary based on patient needs. Some are wearable and sync data to your server. Others hook up directly to your patient’s computer.
Let’s Talk Interactive offers the tools you need to grow your practice with telehealth. Contact us today to get started.