Virtual healthcare aims to create an easy experience for patients through services such as telemedicine and remote patient monitoring.
Since long, doctors have connected with their patients via telephone calls or emails, with video visits now becoming a convenient alternative. Telemedicine – now offered as part of many health insurance policies – makes medical visits even easier!
Telemedicine
Telemedicine allows people to access healthcare when and where they need it, be it routine follow-up visits, chronic disease management or helping avoid unnecessary emergency room trips. Telemedicine offers physicians a safe and convenient way of connecting with their patients while sharing invaluable knowledge that enables them to make more informed treatment decisions.
Remote locations with limited access to healthcare professionals will find virtual consultations particularly helpful, such as providing mental health practice consultations for people suffering from severe depression or anxiety. Virtual consultations may also serve to educate medical students on various health conditions that require close monitoring.
Telemedicine offers several advantages, including:
Time Savings: Busy people often don’t have enough time for appointments, so virtual meetings provide them with an efficient means of meeting with healthcare providers quickly before or after work, during lunch breaks, or while at home. Plus they reduce risk of no-shows while giving doctors flexibility in scheduling appointment times.
Telemedicine solutions allow patients the power of choice when selecting which healthcare professional they wish to speak with – this gives patients more power over their health and wellbeing.
Telemedicine also offers cost-saving benefits over traditional healthcare services, reducing travel expenses and other associated expenses. Remote doctor consultation can also increase patient satisfaction by eliminating many of the hassles that often accompany visiting doctors in person, such as difficulty reaching them or waiting long periods before seeing one. Telemedicine solutions eliminate these difficulties, making the experience much more comfortable for all involved. They also alleviate strain on medical staff while improving patient outcomes and overall experience – particularly important when managing chronic health conditions that necessitate regular appointments with specialists.
Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is an integral component of virtual healthcare delivery. RPM allows healthcare organizations to track patient progress between appointments and provide them with vital health data in order to make more informed decisions and reduce readmission costs.
RPM programs are commonly offered to high-risk patients who require chronic or post-discharge care to help keep them on their treatment plans. RPM can also be utilized by employees involved in workmen’s compensation cases to monitor recovery and ensure they can return to work as quickly as possible. Some healthcare facilities choose to manage RPM programs themselves while others outsource it to trusted vendors who will handle everything from equipment setup and delivery through case administration and reporting.
Due to work and childcare obligations and transportation costs, it can be challenging for patients to visit their healthcare providers in person on a regular basis, often leading to cancelled or missed appointments which could have serious negative health repercussions. By offering Remote Patient Monitoring services as an option for treatment plans, this enables patients to continue treatment without sacrificing livelihood or incurring travel costs.
RPM provides additional advantages for both patients and healthcare practitioners alike. For patients, RPM can strengthen relationships between themselves and their healthcare practitioners by giving greater visibility into changes to health data over time – for instance when diabetic patients see that their blood sugar is rising after eating sugary foods they may be more inclined to change their habits and adhere to treatment plans.
Implementing RPM can help healthcare providers increase patient retention by offering convenience in an increasingly competitive healthcare landscape. Furthermore, telehealth visits typically last 20% less time than in-person appointments, giving healthcare practitioners more chances to connect with their patients and provide the care they require.
Electronic Health Records (EHR)
An EHR system is the digital version of paper medical records used by healthcare professionals and contains comprehensive patient information including past medical histories, medications and treatments, lab results and imaging reports, correspondence between providers as well as secure access for authorized users to securely view a patient’s record quickly and quickly update in real-time ensuring its accuracy and saving both time and money while increasing quality care delivery.
EHR systems not only save time but provide improved documentation for patients. They include electronic prescriptions as well as detailed patient notes and charts that are easy to read. This helps reduce errors with prescriptions as well as eliminate manual paperwork – helping ensure all medication needs of each individual patient are met.
An EHR provides additional benefits by automating many of the routine administrative tasks clinicians need to do on a daily basis. It enables centralized chart management, automated coding and insurance claims processing; as well as fast, efficient communication using email, instant messaging or telemedicine platforms.
Clinicians have reported that EHR saves them up to 20 hours each week in documenting, giving them more time with patients. Furthermore, it helps improve communication among providers as well as between their offices and patient homes – as well as enable healthcare providers to monitor a patient’s progress from home and make necessary adjustments as needed.
Implementing an electronic health record (EHR) may be costly, but with a good vendor it can be more affordable and provide training and support services to maximize its returns on your investment. These vendors should comply with HIPAA, provide 24/7 customer service and have secure systems to protect data, along with webinars or documents explaining how the system works and its uses.
Patient Portal
Patient portals provide patients with an efficient means to access their personal medical records and communicate with physicians online, while also helping reduce paperwork processed by office staff – saving both time and resources in the process.
An effective patient portal must be user-friendly and tailored specifically to each person’s health care experience, providing information such as test results and upcoming appointments, messaging features that allow patients to contact their physicians directly with any queries or concerns directly, and access through both traditional internet browsers as well as mobile applications.
Patient-centric portals have quickly become an indispensable asset to healthcare delivery. By allowing patients to schedule appointments online and communicate directly with their physicians, these patient portals make healthcare simpler for both parties involved – helping reduce no-shows while simultaneously increasing satisfaction among all parties involved.
Patient portals can also help to reduce administrative costs by automating tasks normally handled by office staff, such as processing payments and submitting assessments. They can also prevent data-entry errors that arise when using multiple systems simultaneously.
An incredible benefit of patient portals is their accessibility at any time – this enables patients to quickly receive results from their doctors without waiting on a phone call or letter. Patients can also use them to track progress, set reminders for medications, and receive advice from physicians.
However, it is essential that patients receive proper training on how to use the patient portal. This may involve providing education materials or giving a demonstration during an appointment by office staff. Furthermore, some portals have restrictions that require doctor approval before certain messages can be sent; such as blocking them if there hasn’t been an appointment scheduled in a certain amount of time or there are no longer appointments scheduled with them. Finally, some portals include support buttons so patients can contact technical teams for assistance if they experience problems using it.