The proliferation of digital devices has successfully launched telehealth and telemedicine software in health care. Whether you’re a physician, administrator, hospitalist or other medical worker, you need to know the telehealth best practices to ensure better collaboration and care delivery.
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What This Article Covers:
Best Practices
Telehealth is instrumental in today’s health care as it helps expand the care horizon. Patients living in suburban areas often face transport challenges while those in cities face congestion, resulting in missed doctor appointments and incomplete care. With telehealth applications, they can avail care from their doctors online.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent data on telemedicine use, 37% of U.S. adults used telemedicine services in 2021.
With such a large percentage of adults already turning to telemedicine for care, it’s important you know the telehealth best practices others are following to successfully offer these services. Though there are several practices, it’s up to you to identify and adopt the ones suitable for your clinic’s needs.
That said, let’s look at the telehealth best practices shaping the future of health care.
Setting the Stage
To start with, it’s crucial for doctors, administrators and each staff member to have the technical know-how to effectively use the systems. Train your staff rigorously so they’re able to troubleshoot small issues and reduce downtime.
In addition, hospitals can also allot extra staff members to provide tech support to ensure appointments go smoothly. They can also provide patients with the necessary information regarding what systems to use for file transfers or how to use the camera properly.
The medical staff can also send a checklist with all the requirements patients need to fulfill from their end to have a seamless video call experience. This will reduce time wastage, and patients will know what to expect.
Following Bedside Manners
Moving from in-person visits to a virtual environment can be a daunting challenge. Therefore, it’s essential to hone your virtual bedside manners prior to the video call. The following etiquette will make the patient feel comfortable and thus forge stronger relationships.
Bedside manners may have different names in many circles — the crux is to be attentive and make patients feel more comfortable talking about their medical issues.
New patients might get cold feet before connecting with the doctor for the first appointment. However, a good bedside manner often helps them break the ice.
Remember, doctors must dress precisely as they would for an in-person visit. The room they use must have good lighting, and the camera should be at a good angle to catch the room’s ambiance and the doctor’s image completely.
Creating a Positive Video Presence
Along with good bedside manners, you should also practice talking and presenting properly in a video call. Building a good video presence is the key to successful care delivery through telehealth.
Point the camera at an optimum angle to avoid glare and maintain eye contact with patients. It will help the patients feel comfortable and confident that you’re listening attentively. Accompany it with suitable body gestures such as nodding.
Keep the background noise-free. Get rid of anything that might distract the patient’s attention from you. Wear neat and clean clothes that don’t have a flurry of colors. It’s advisable to wear professional attire accompanied by a batch or name tag.
Ensuring Security & Compliance
One of the most crucial steps of implementing telehealth is to check for potential areas that might be vulnerable to threats. Protecting patient data from outside hacks is important to make them trust you more.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule mandates certain regulations for protected health information (PHI), including that new clinics must implement security best practices to secure valuable data.
Ensure that telemedicine software, such as video conferencing and file transfer applications, are HIPAA, PIPEDA or PHIPA compliant, depending on your location and needs. Implement end-to-end encryption to lock out third-party users from the system and keep patients’ data protected.
Providing Ease of Use
The new innovative medical technologies are only as good as the common patients’ and physicians’ abilities to use them. One of the most prominent telehealth best practices is ensuring that the tools used during an online appointment are easy to use.
As doctors work on a tight schedule and patients might have limited time on their hands, it’s paramount that all systems work when it’s time for the appointment.
Therefore, selecting video conferencing tools, file transfer systems and other required applications with a friendly user interface is important. As some patients might lack technical knowledge, you need to ensure that the systems don’t become a barrier for them.
Send instructions on joining a call beforehand or hold webinars to train patients and physicians.
Staying On Top of Regulations
Telehealth visits differ from in-person consultations. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, health care associations are introducing new laws and guidelines to regulate telehealth. With medical insurance terms differing from one state to another, you need to make sure you’re billing correctly.
It’s best to study and understand telehealth laws for consultations. In addition, stay updated with any new regulations that come in. This will help you avoid hefty fines and prosecution from health authorities.
Leveraging Digital Health Tools
Telehealth opens the door for health trackers and smartwatches to play a crucial role in patient’s health outcomes. These trackers usually have sensors that record patients’ vitals in real time. In the age of the Medical IoT, doctors can connect these devices with clinical systems to monitor patients’ health constantly.
Though the readings in some of the devices may not be highly accurate, doctors can get a good idea about heart rates, blood sugar levels and more. This helps them provide emergency care in times of need and execute better treatment plans.
EHR systems and EMR solutions can also come in handy to catalog and access patient medical files quickly.
Primary Benefits
Thinking of adding telehealth services to your portfolio? You’re not alone.
According to a report by Grand View Research, the global telehealth market was at $83.5 billion in 2022 and is expected to rise at a CAGR of 24% from 2023-2030.
The growth expected in the global telehealth market can, in part, be attributed to the benefits it provides health care practices and patients in an ever-evolving landscape with shifting demands.
Along with various telecommunication technologies, telehealth provides much-needed access to care for patients remotely. This removes the medical staff’s heavy burden as patients can schedule and postpone appointments online. In addition, older patient groups can regularly get care without traveling as frequently.
It also plays a critical role in introducing care in many rural areas. As patients can get doctor’s services over a video call, it saves traveling costs.
According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, people in rural areas can benefit from telehealth as it effectively shrinks the distances between rural care nodes, making care readily available for patients.
To learn more about the benefits of telehealth, check out our article — Benefits of Telehealth: Advantages and Disadvantages.
Implementation
Implementing telemedicine in a medical facility is simple. With a well thought out implementation strategy hospitals and clinics are able to provide the best telehealth services to patients.
The steps for successful implementation are as follows:
- Set Clear Goals: To see success, you need to set clear goals for the services. This might include which services to choose, the right time to introduce them and how to market them. Without a clear goal and strategies for each stage, you’ll face several implementation challenges.
- Employ a Team: Telemedicine services require multiple staff and medical professionals. Having a cross-functional team in place will help you achieve seamless care delivery and optimized workflows.
- Adhere to Regulations: Complying with government regulations regarding telehealth and telemedicine is important to avoid hefty fines. Choosing HIPAA-compliant telehealth technology will help you protect patient data as well.
- Implement: Employ a technical team to oversee the implementation and provide necessary IT support. Keep in mind, cloud-based software requires less oversight as the server is hosted by the vendor.
- Improve Operations Over Time: Paying heed to patient feedback is crucial for success. Encourage patients to provide feedback and reviews after each appointment. Make the necessary changes to the services for improved patient satisfaction.
Next Steps
With newer technologies and innovations on the horizon, the telehealth experience will continue to grow and improve in the future.
That said, there are several barriers to telehealth implementation. Social, cultural and economic barriers still pose challenges that hinder the growth of telehealth. However, clinicians and medical workers can overcome them with industry best practices.
Newer hospitals and clinics can learn from prevalent practices and implement telehealth in a beneficial way for all.
Looking for telehealth software to start providing virtual care to patients? Check out our comparison guide to find more about the top players!
What telehealth best practices do you adhere to? What would you add to our list? Let us know in the comments below!