As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the healthcare industry has embraced telemedicine as the new normal. While the practices were initially only forced to implement telehealth as a quick solution, they are now adopting it wholeheartedly because of the incredible benefits of deploying telemedicine. Many only put a good enough explanation for now and intended to phase out in a couple of months. However, with the progression of time, we realize that telemedicine is now engraved into the healthcare landscape and is here to stay.

Telemedicine, therefore, has established itself as a critical tool for not only managing the pandemic but also transforming how care is delivered. Owing to the ease and convenience it offers, experts expect around 20-30 percent of the routine visits to continue to be conducted virtually even post the pandemic.

Hence, medical practices are increasingly evaluating their long-term telehealth future, aiming to drive efficiency and productivity. However, as we start to look ahead, it remains imperative to understand that telehealth is not a one-size-fits-all approach. You need to keenly learn from several other practices that have been successful in implementing telemedicine.

Here are five best practices to implement telemedicine at your healthcare organization:

Take an Integrated Approach

Telemedicine alone cannot take you to new horizons. It needs to integrate into your current systems and clinical workflows necessarily. Your telehealth solution should plus right in and work directly with the existing systems, and not as an independent solution. Ideally, a virtual visit should be just as efficient as an in-office visit. Hence, the most integrated the systems are, the lesser effort is required to manage the clinical workflows.

Plan Your Communication Strategy

Communication remains the key to an efficient virtual encounter. Just like a face-to-face visit, in a virtual meeting, the patient connects with their doctor well before the actual visit. Hence, it is crucial to building a workflow that uses takes the patients on board with an effective communication strategy. Automating the processes using an efficient EHR might do the magic of reducing the burden of your staff, while also cutting down on time spent on such tedious tasks. On the day of the appointment, your team can enroll the patients for the appointment, re-check any self-taken vitals, and handle the check-in process. Once the visit is complete, the same staff can communicate with the patients for a follow-up visit via a secure text message or an email. Hence, planning pre- and post-visit communication will boost the efficiency of telehealth at your practice.

Standardize Telehealth Workflows

To reap the most out of your telehealth encounters, you are advised to deploy a solution that offers quality, security, and functionality in one system. It should essentially streamline and standardize your telehealth workflows instead of adding complexity or room for error. Also, make sure all the providers at your practice are using the same platform to ensure standardization across the entire practice.

Enable Transparent Reporting and Documentation

Documentation of telehealth encounters is the last thing you want to worry about. You don’t have to add the extra burden of taking care of payer schedules, coding and billing, and respective reports. Hence, your telehealth solution should have built-in features that support detailed reporting and documentation to ensure accurate billing and maximum reimbursements. All calls should be time-stamped with respective patient profiles to provide proof of patient encounters.

Ensure High Levels of Security

Most importantly, you should ensure that your telehealth encounters are HIPAA compliant and don’t run the risk of security breaches. Currently, several HIPAA restrictions have been relaxed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but experts don’t expect them to last. Hence, providers must be mindful of the long-term situation that ensures complete compliance with HIPAA regulations to reduce the potential disruption and financial risk.