The COVID-19 crisis changed life as we knew it, diverse aspects of human life altered, and more notably, the COVID-19 crisis assisted in the rapid development of telemedicine.
The crisis gave the medical practice a new outlook where medical professionals could reach out to patients and offer medical care remotely. Although the COVID-19 crisis made the adoption of telemedicine spread like a wildfire, telemedicine has been around for decades.
The evolution of telemedicine can be linked to the early 20th century, when communication technologies were applied to the field of medicine. Today, hundreds of thousands of people around the globe are successfully adopting the use of telemedicine; telemedicine has now grown to become a convenient tool in medical care. Telemedicine has eliminated hours of waiting in the waiting room, and everyone can easily access medical care in urgent conditions.
The medical care system encounters problems such as the unavailability of medical professionals and inconvenience felt by patients across the country and the world. These hiccups have given rise to telemedicine companies that offer 24/7 access to medical care, and it has also opened a new stream of medical practice revenue. This blog post shows how to discover the best ways to maximise telemedicine.
Table of Contents
Why Telemedicine?
A few years ago, the American Medical Association(AMA) published a COVID-19 physician practice. Financial impact survey results revealed that most medical practices had seen a close to one-third drop in medical revenue. We believe the information here can maximise telemedicine and increase medical revenue if applied. The goal of telemedicine is to provide affordability and accessibility to patients. A glance at the health sector is enough to help anyone comprehend that telemedicine is achieving its goal. Health applications and innovative medical devices are some of the easy-to-use technology used to observe and monitor one’s health.
You can monitor your glucose levels, measure blood pressure, or diagnose infections quickly with the assistance of technology. Most of these apps and devices are viable sources of medical information.
Acknowledging the feats of telemedicine is not enough. Discovering the best ways to maximise telemedicine is also significant.
Choose a suitable model.
Telemedicine comprises two models. These models are co-determining factors of how to increase medical revenue and maximise telemedicine.
The first model is the “Asynchronous support model” in this model, the medical team member(s) is not available during the patient’s visit– virtually or physically. However, the medical team member(s) helps organise a well-planned pre-visit and virtual rooming before the patient’s visit.
The second model is the “Synchronous support model” in this model, the medical team member(s) is always available and present– either virtually or physically whenever the physician is with the patient.
Choosing a model is not enough. You have to observe and monitor the outcome of the model you choose to keep utilising what works well in the model and enhance the model.
Effective Communication
Notwithstanding the model chosen, telemedicine should be easy to approach. Telemedicine companies should make sure that they provide effective and existing channels of communication that the majority of their patient are familiarised with. Make sure these channels of communication fits the nature of communication patients prefer. It could be text massaging, phone calls, video conferencing, or other ways. You might want to go trendy. You could be wondering– why should I use text messaging when I could go all out on emails or video conferencing? Here’s an answer, studies have shown that emails have an open rate of 30% when received while text messages have an open rate of 80% to 90%.
Affordable telemedicine
Telemedicine provides a solution to costly healthcare. You can subscribe for free or at an affordable fee to enjoy telemedicine.
©National Cancer Institute – Unsplash
Telemedicine companies should partially subsidise the cost of telemedicine to maximise telemedicine. Subsidised telemedicine is a perfect option for people who cannot afford high-cost urgent care centres or expensive emergency rooms. This opens the door for more patients, increasing medical revenue and maximising telemedicine.
Boundaries and Barriers
Telemedicine is perfect for everyone. Lack of access to broadband internet, smartphones, computers with webcams, and dependable data services are barriers that patients encounter. Unfortunately, these boundaries stand against its maximisation.
©Patty Brito – Unsplash
Access to the internet and camera-capable device is a necessity. It is the bedrock for the success of telemedicine services. World leaders and leaders in the health care system should stand up and work towards a productive approach to reduce and eliminate the boundaries and barriers in telemedicine.
Telemedicine Atmosphere
Telemedicine professionals need to present themselves warmly and make sure their patients feel comfortable with them. Your atmosphere, that is, the background, sound, and appearance, should be moderate.
©istockphoto
Your patients should focus on you. You might need to change your background from an expensive artwork to a plain wall or a simple solid-coloured curtain.
Ensure there’s enough illumination, keep pets off, and if you employ a ring light, make sure it is not too bright to distract you.
Patient’s Experience
People detest their experiences at physical medical care centres. People are fed up with the crowded waiting rooms, bitter about the distance to medical care and lack of access to medical care. Fortunately, telemedicine offers access to care in remote areas, faster and quality access to care, telemedicine eliminates crowded waiting rooms, and patients can access care at convenient places.
©istockphoto
2020 SYKES survey participants revealed that 40% of respondents had concerns about the accuracy of diagnosis in telemedicine or the quality of telemedicine care. In contrast, 26% had a low level of confidence in the privacy and security of telemedicine care. Telemedicine companies need to take note of these and prioritise their patients’ experiences.
Telemedicine companies and telemedicine care providers need to consider this study. The telemedicine field is a novel experience for many people, and priority should be given to the patient’s experience.
Wrapping Up
Telemedicine has proven to benefit both patients and medical practitioners alike. The popularity that telemedicine has gained in the past few months has been phenomenal and will linger on in the health sector worldwide. However, this seems like the beginning of the opportunities, exposure, and innovation it can bring to the way we administer healthcare and medical practice in general.
