Telemedicine and telehealth were obviously part of healthcare prior to March 2020, but for most clinics, they were a minor component. The bulk of treatment was delivered in person, with phone calls used for items like medicine refills, patient-provider discussion, and test results reporting.
According to the Telemedicine Index: 2019 Physician Survey, 22% of physicians use some type of telehealth in 2019, up from 5% in 2015, but still less than one in four clinicians. After COVID-19 rendered many clinics unable to deliver in-person care, more than 90% of physicians now employ telemedicine or telehealth.
Rapid Adoption’s Advantages and Disadvantages
The benefit of quick adoption is that your patients will have more access to treatment, as well as the capacity to continue delivering treatment and generating cash to keep your clinic afloat. However, there may be a disadvantage. Clinics may have begun utilizing a platform that does not match your long-term telemedicine demands and is not secure in their rush to find a solution to deliver telemedicine and telehealth services. In the aftermath of the worldwide epidemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) loosened several platform security regulations, but they are likely to be reinstated once healthcare returns to routine.
Moving Forward with Telemedicine and Telehealth Strategies
The first step in improving your clinic’s virtual care and practise management technology offerings is to assess your present software platform. If you started utilising anything that isn’t safe or HIPAA-compliant only to have something available (like Google Meet or FaceTime), now is the time to upgrade to something more secure.
Look for a telemedicine provider that offers the following services throughout the assessment process:
Integrate with your practise management software, electronic health records, and medical billing software with these comprehensive solutions.
In the middle of the epidemic, secure solutions to safeguard against the rising threat of cybercrime and hackers targeting healthcare businesses are needed.
Cloud-based software that enables you and your team to securely access patient data from any device and location.
HIPAA compliance is complete, and data is encrypted to the greatest level possible. Solutions that are modular and expandable, allowing you to add to your software as your clinic expands and your needs change.
Learn how GoDoctor can help you transition from a piecemeal system to satisfy your urgent telemedicine needs during COVID-19 to a permanent, secure, and industry-leading solution for growing the technology that will help your clinic prosper in the future.
