Setting Up a Telemedicine Program in Your Practice
Telemedicine program are becoming inevitable in medical practice nowadays. Will you use telemedicine to offer same-day appointments, follow-up care, or doctor visits? You can decide that at the end of certain personal visits, you will recommend telemedicine to certain patients for the next visit. You can post signs in your practice and post articles on your website, and you and your staff can talk to patients during personal visits. The technology to set up may seem overwhelming, but it is quite simple for a simple offering such as home patient audiovisual services. On many platforms, you can set up a notification system that notifies patients when you are ready and notifies you when patients are ready.
Since the telemedicine patient does not see you personally, the practice must create a method for collecting co-payments and other personal contributions from patients. The most advanced application of telemedicine is the establishment of a doctor's office where the doctor can conduct a more extensive examination. When planning telemedicine, you need to determine if your patients are using it, how you want to use it and incorporate it into your practice.
Many rural programs appoint a telemedicine coordinator who can manage telemedicine referrals, inform patients about telemedicine services, coordinate with the telemedicine provider, facilitate the technological aspects of visits, and schedule follow-up appointments if necessary. A telemedicine champion can also be critical to the success of a rural telemedicine program. Champions help promote telehealth throughout the organization and community, guide staff through the process of implementing or expanding new telehealth, and help address challenges as they arise.
The National Telehealth Technology Assessment Resource Center can help rural communities select the best telehealth technology suited for their program. Telemedicine Resource Centers provide comprehensive guides and toolkits that can help rural communities better understand the types of resources that contribute to the success of telehealth programs. The California TRC Telehealth Program Developer Kit contains checklists, instructions, templates, and activities to guide communities from the inception to the evaluation of a telemedicine program.
Telehealth Success Stories Website Evaluates best practices and related lessons learned for implementing telemedicine from field experience and discussions with telemedicine experts. As telemedicine and telehealth services spread to both healthcare providers and patients, they are becoming an integral part of the healthcare industry that promises access for all. Telemedicine technologies offer numerous benefits to both patients and healthcare providers.
More points of contact with healthcare providers: Real-time telemedicine services enable doctors to communicate with their patients much more frequently than the traditional care model. Healthcare providers in large health systems and small clinics can now provide comprehensive patient care as up-to-date, patient-generated medical and health information is shared and stored via telemedicine program and technologies. The delivery of health services through telemedicine technologies, such as video conferencing and patient portals, helps patients get the care they need when they need it.
Whether your team is treating patients with chronic conditions that make it difficult to escape, or patients who live in rural areas and have long distances to the nearest health department, telemedicine makes your services more accessible. Do you use telemedicine to expand your practice? To improve access to your current patients? To save time and reduce no-show fees? Next, determine how you want to integrate telemedicine into your practice: what percentage of your time would you like to spend on it and on what part of your day?
