By Ken Dropiewski, Prime-Core Executive Search
With technology improving and becoming increasingly accessible, more industries are turning to it to deliver better services. Medicine is no different. Today, technology enables the disabled and the injured or homebound to visit their doctor and transmit necessary information for the maintenance of their health —without leaving home. Wearable technology helps ensure those keeping fit have a viable record of their activities and gives patients a way to keep their doctors informed of their progress. Telemedicine is here to stay. It’s not only improving the lives of patients, but it is aiding in the delivery of healthcare. Here are a few ways that telemedicine can help your practice and your patients leverage technology for better health and improved outcomes.
Telemedicine Saves Time
Follow-up visits and routine maintenance visits take time away from the patients who are in immediate need. Telemedicine offers the ability to extend your practice by allowing your nurse to triage and take care of virtual visits. You can expect patient satisfaction to improve as well. Additionally, patients who have trouble traveling can be “seen” from the comfort of their own home.
Pre-op and Post-op Visits
Preprocedure and postprocedure consults can be easily accomplished via video conference in a telemedicine setting. Often health issues can be more efficiently assessed by your staff in virtual visits where the patient feels less vulnerable.
Effective Coordinated Care
How many times have you written a referral for a patient to see a specialist and wondered if the patient actually followed up? With telemedicine, consults can occur while the patient is seated in your office.
Emergent Care and Triage
You are about to head into the cath lab, or just maybe you just got into bed after a long day when you find out a patient has just been admitted to an outlying ER. Telemedicine will allow you to admit or consult on your patient virtually. Review admission orders and get the patient’s treatment plan started without having to get to the ER to care for your patient.
Telemedicine Stats
- An estimated one million people have used some form of telemedicine (2015)
- 12 million consumers were expected to use telemedicine in 2016
- American Telemedicine Association reports 15 million virtual visits this year (2017)
- 74 percent of large corporations utilize some form of telemedicine for occupational health
- Telemedicine is covered by major insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid in 48 states.
While telemedicine is not in its infancy, it is still a new concept to an unaware majority of patients, not to mention a phalanx of medical professionals with more questions than video equipment. It’s here to stay, though, as insurance companies and a grateful public are making that crystal clear.
Email: ken@prime-core.com
