The future of healthcare: Staying Connected With Your Patients Virtually
The whole world is currently dealing with a pandemic situation that has a significant effect on our daily lives. The community quarantines and lockdowns are affecting our lives, and going outdoors can be a risk, and staying inside our home is the best option that we have right now. Because of the risk and fear that we are taking every time people go outside, it is difficult for patients and healthcare professionals to connect. It can be a relief if we will have a way to check for our health while staying in the safest place on earth: our home.
This situation taught us lessons that we didn’t even imagine before. Medical preparedness needs to be carefully taken care of to prevent this kind of crisis from happening again. One of the things that we need to consider is using digital technology in providing quality healthcare to people.
Telemedicine has already taken its place for the past years. However, many healthcare professionals and patients are still not familiar with this. The demand for telemedicine will likely rise in the next few days. Most healthcare providers are already adopting telemedicine to be the next face of healthcare. The VA Hub is offering help to enlighten you with the possibility that connecting with your patients is possible and more convenient virtually.
How to get started?
Since telemedicine is operating virtually, you need to have the right tools that you will use to connect your healthcare staff with your patients. Since the internet is a necessity nowadays, you need to maximize it to perform audio and video consultation. There are a lot of software applications that you can utilize. To help you decide which one to use, we listed the top apps that you can use to connect with your patients virtually.
- Zoom: is one of the most used video conferencing apps nowadays. It provides video and online chat services through a cloud-based and peer-to-peer software platform and is used for video conferences, virtual training, and social relations. Their subscription plans are Pro ($14.99/mo), Business ($19.99/mo), and Enterprise ($19.99/mo).
- Ringcentral: is a communication tool used by many businesses. They are one of the leading communication platforms based on subscriber seats. Their subscription plans are Essentials for ($19.99) Standard for ($24.99) Premium for ($34.99) and Ultimate for ($49.99).
- Hangouts Meet: is a user-friendly communication platform that is a part of Google’s G Suite. You just need to send your patient a shared link that they need to click to get into the meeting. Hangouts meet offer enhanced and fully integrated plans those are Basic ($6/mo), Business ($12/mo), and Enterprise ($25/mo).
You can decide what application to use based on your needs. You can also check the trials that they offer to know more about these applications and to help you decide which one to get.
How does telemedicine work?
Now that you already have the idea of which software application to use to connect you with your patients, let us give you a glimpse of how telemedicine works. Telemedicine uses audio and video technology to communicate with your patients, but it is not that simple. Here’s how it works.
- Be ready. Make sure that all necessary equipment is connected, such as microphone and storage drives, and also any digital medical equipment that may be required.
- Your patients can be reached in different ways, and the most common is to send a link that they can click to enter a meeting room.
- In the case of the internet, issues might happen that can cause delays for patients and doctors. It is recommended to advise patients to activate their appointment at least 10 minutes before their schedule.
- When a patient’s appointment invitation is activated, patients will be directed to a virtual waiting room. Doctors and healthcare professionals will be preparing the records and documents that are needed for the consultation. Nurses can also perform a triage if the software permits it.
- Once the doctor is done with the patient, they can already proceed to the next one. They will be transferred to a designated virtual meeting room, and a face-to-face consultation can take place.
- Doctors will be given an option to save text, audio, and video once the appointment is completed. It is necessary to ask for the patient’s approval before the virtual meeting.
- The final step is to end the call. The doctor needs to be the one to perform this action to ensure that there are no breaches of privacy that can occur. After finishing the call, the doctor or their medical scribe can now complete the patient’s EHR.
Applications interface may vary. However, the essential features are available on all platforms.
Use virtual assistants to maximize telemedicine solutions.
It is safe to say that telemedicine is the future of healthcare. With the features and benefits that we can take advantage of, it’s clear to see that telemedicine is a great option when it comes to practicing social distancing and preserving the physical and mental health of your patients. But this doesn’t mean that we can only take advantage of telemedicine during a crisis. Integrating a TVH Medical Virtual Assistant is a great option to assist with your practice’s need during this time and in the future. But what can a virtual medical assistant do for you?
Virtual assistant service is one of the most common jobs as of this moment. Having a remote worker to take care of some of your tasks is a huge help. A Medical Virtual Assistant is much like any other employee in medical practice, but there is one significant difference: they use the advancements of technology. A virtual assistant can connect to your practice from anywhere in the world. All they need is an internet connection and a PC or laptop. This is why utilizing a Medical Virtual Assistant is a perfect choice to maximize the advantage of telemedicine service.
A TVH Medical VA can be your perfect choice when it comes to a virtual assistant. They are capable of taking administrative tasks that your practice generates. From handling phone calls, appointment scheduling to medical scribe, and even billing, a TVH Medical VA can do those tasks for you.
Contact our business advisors today to learn more about having a TVH Medical VA.
Call 1-888-923-9323
Email businessadvisors@thevahub.com
Contributor: Danielle Palarca
