How Telehealth Services Help Your Patients and Your Practice

Telehealth has now existed within the medical community for over a decade. While telehealth services are becoming more widely utilized, there is still growth potential for both patients and providers. Many are still unaware of the benefits of telehealth services in contrast to traditional care delivery. This is causing hesitation in the community for those considering the implementation of this tool. The truth is, introducing these services offers goal-tackling solutions for both patients and providers! For providers struggling to keep their patients effectively engaged or stabilize their bottom line, this tool encourages growth and improvement. For patient’s eager to tackle their personal health head on, telehealth options up some incredible options. Let us look at some of the ways using telehealth services can help your practice grow in multiple directions.

Benefits of Telehealth Services for the Patient:

1) Accessibility
Among the many benefits of telehealth services for patients, an important one to address is accessibility. Some patients have little issue traveling to and from appointments with their providers. However, most patients such as the elderly, those will chronic conditions, or those located in Primary Care Deserts may find getting to an appointment so difficult that they neglect crucial medical care. Distance, the ability to travel, and costs are three significant obstacles for patients that can be easily solved by implementing telehealth services. Other patients may find it difficult to make appointments in the first place due to their hectic schedules or odd work hours. Telehealth services make it so that appointments take less time and begin with the click of a mouse. By offering your patients accessible options to visit with their physician, providers can increase patient engagement.

2) Communication
When patients feel that they are important to providers, patient engagement and satisfaction go up. Telehealth services can help increase how connected patients feel to their providers. By allowing for increased ability to communicate issues and concerns, and for more opportunities for patients to ask questions, telehealth helps patients communicate more easily to their physicians. Questions that do not get addressed in the virtual visit are easily answered later via the patient portal, helping the patient feel cared for and prioritized. This leads to patients making more appointments and engaging more in their overall personal care. When patients are happy, providers are happy.

Benefits for the Provider:

1) Optimized Workflow
Telehealth services also offer benefits that impact providers more directly on a daily basis within their practice. Taking advantage of this time-saving tool improves practice workflow in many ways. Telehealth visits are shorter on average than an in-office visit. Because of this, providers are able to see more patients in a day as it reduces average appointment times. Providers are also able to access patient charts directly through telehealth software and click into patient appointments to start the visit immediately from the patient’s chart. Follow-up visits increase as well as billable services, positively impacting your bottom line. This simplified and expedited visit maximizes workplace efficiency, increases the number of visits in a day, and stabilizes practices bottom line.

2) Improved Quality of Care
In addition to increased efficiency, telehealth services also help providers feel like they are offering the best care possible to their patients. Telehealth services allow for remote patient monitoring including tracking vitals and safely collecting important patient data. A quality vendor of services will also offer a telehealth mobile app that ensures quality and secure connection via a mobile device. With tools to help them more effectively engage their patients and monitor patient health, providers can increase the quality of care they deliver.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of implementing telehealth services at your practice. To learn more about the telehealth available, click here.