There has been more than a 150% increase in the use of telehealth solutions within the past year. With all of the recent healthcare changes, telehealth is becoming more valuable to patients and providers alike.
If you haven’t taken advantage of telehealth services yet, now is the time to jump on the trend. If you don’t do so soon, you’re bound to lose patients if you haven’t already.
Offering telehealth services is one of the best ways to bring in new patients and provide access for current ones. Keep reading to learn more about telehealth and how it could completely transform your clinical practice.
1. Telehealth Improves Patient Engagement
If you’re trying to get your patients involved in their own health management, telehealth is a great way to do that. Telehealth makes it easy for physicians to track their patients’ daily activities through technological monitoring.
For example, practitioners can track activity via their patients’ smartwatches to see if they’re getting their daily activity time in.
2. Telehealth Expands Access to Healthcare
Access to healthcare is a huge problem in the United States. In fact, only 87.8% of people in the United States have a standard place that they go to for healthcare treatment. The rest of the population either doesn’t have access or doesn’t have consistent access.
Either way, healthcare access is a problem.
With telehealth, physicians can reach more patients. Therefore, they’re providing medical care to some people who may not have had it before.
Plus, you can offer extra services like telecardiology.
3. Telehealth Advances Business Models
If you’re worried about how telehealth may affect your clinic as a business, you should stop worrying. Telehealth is only going to advance your business model.
You’ll be pulling your medical clinic into the twentieth century where all of your competition already is.
It’s likely that all of the clinics, hospitals, and other medical facilities in your area are already taking advantage of telehealth in some way. Therefore, it’s likely that you’re behind on taking advantage of this growing trend.
4. Telehealth Betters Clinical Efficiency
In the office, you have to worry about transporting patients to and from exam rooms. And, you have to move physicians from room to room to see each patient.
With telehealth solutions, you don’t have to worry about any of this movement. The online format is much more manageable and you don’t have to worry about transporting people anywhere.
Everyone can stay in one room while the appointment is in progress. So, the practitioners can move from patient to patient without having to travel across the clinic every few minutes.
Plus, they can do all of their charting on their computer. So, they don’t have to move for their charting either.
5. Telehealth Increases Revenue
With telehealth appointments, you’re going to be seeing more patients. Plus, you’re going to be able to see more patients in a smaller amount of time.
Over time, you’re going to increase revenue for your clinic.
This increase in revenue doesn’t even count the drop in costs that your clinic will have. You’re going to be using fewer resources if patients stay at home for their telehealth visits. So, you’ll have fewer expenses to offset your earnings.
Plus, you can offer more telehealth services like telecardiology, telepathology, and teleradiology. So, you can make more.
6. Telehealth Cuts Patient Costs
Patients spend less on telehealth visits. And, they can see physicians faster.
Patients don’t have to worry about transportation, childcare, parking, getting a work vacation, or anything else that usually comes with an in-person appointment.
Plus, telehealth appointments take much less effort on the patient’s part in general. So, they’re going to be using fewer physical, mental, and emotional resources as well.
Overall, telehealth is a better choice for patients. They don’t have to carve their lives around their telehealth appointment. Rather, the appointment can fall into their lives as they are now.
7. Telehealth Reduces Overhead
Telehealth applications are relatively cheap to implement. In addition to this, telehealth visits cost much less than traditional visits.
Both the patient and the clinic are saving money when an appointment is online. These savings for both parties add up over time.
As you implement telehealth, your clinic will notice the reduction in overhead costs.
8. Telehealth Enhances Healthcare Quality
Telehealth allows licensed practitioners to reach patients that they may have not been able to reach before. With this easier access to healthcare, patients are getting a better quality of healthcare than they previously had.
Plus, you can offer more healthcare solutions like telecardiology services, echocardiogram reads, and ultrasound interpretations.
9. Telehealth Raises Patient Satisfaction
The majority of patients that have had telehealth appointments would do it all again. Telehealth is great for all kinds of patients and you’ll find that your patient satisfaction will increase after implementing it.
No matter what the appointment is for, patients would rather take care of the problem at home (if they can). And, with innovative telecardiology solutions, you can offer more to your patients while they’re at home.
10. Telehealth Reduces No-Shows
Life gets in the way sometimes, so patient no-shows are unavoidable. However, it’s no surprise that telehealth visits have a lower no-show rate.
Patients just have to log onto a computer to get to their appointment. They don’t have to get the day off work or organize childcare.
So, they’re going to be more likely to show up for their appointments. And, they’re more likely to follow up for future appointments as needed.
Explore Telehealth Solutions for Yourself
At this point, it’s no secret that telehealth has its advantages for patients and practitioners alike. There’s no questioning how beneficial these services can be.
If you haven’t implemented telehealth solutions into your healthcare facility, it’s time to start doing so now. Between telecardiology, telepathology, and teleradiology, our team at Specialist Direct can help you get the telehealth solutions that your healthcare team needs.
To get started, start today with a free consult from Specialist Direct. We can help you figure out how to implement the right telehealth solutions into your health clinic, hospital, or another healthcare setting.
