You may have chosen telemedicine to increase profitability, enhance patient access, and stay ahead of the competition.

Here are a few simple tips to make Virtual Visits as seamless as possible.

Maintain Eye Contact

Always make sure that you’re looking straight into the camera, specifically when you’re speaking. It will create a better connection with your patients and they will feel more involved in the encounter.

Minimize Interruptions

It’s highly unlikely for someone, at office or home, to know that you’re not just working on the computer but are providing online care. Make sure to put a sign on the door, or find another way to let them know that they should not interrupt you.

Control Your Background

Telemedicine services can be provided anywhere. It is very likely that patient will be able to view your background during the screen session. A messy workplace or personal space at home wouldn’t be something you would like to present to your patients. Moreover, patients get distracted with people walking around in the backdrop, so do make sure to deploy the right environment to safeguard the patient’s privacy.

Deploy the Right Hardware

Before starting a virtual encounter, make sure you have a decent headset and a microphone, and a lag free internet connection with sufficient bandwidth for a smooth experience. Investing a few hundred dollars in a good quality noise cancellation headset and an echo cancelling microphone will go a long way in transmitting clear crisp sound.

Remove Distractions

Make it a habit to activate the “Do Not Disturb” feature on your office phone and the silent mode on your cellular phone, before starting a virtual visit. Moreover, close all computer programs and browser tabs that can become a source of noise or distraction.

Restrict Hand Gestures

If you’re someone who makes a lot of hand gestures, this one can be a little tough. Lot of hand gestures can be confusing for the person on the other end of the camera, so try limiting hand movements to only when you’re trying to demonstrate something. There may be some video lag here and there so hand movement may not be super consistent with the audio.

Dress Simply

Avoid wearing colors that are too bright or bold patterns, as these can be a distraction. Dress professionally, and if you wear a white coat when diagnosing patients at the office, its best to stick with.

Reduce Natural Light

Light shining through the windows can disrupt the indoor lighting. To prevent screen glare, it’s best to keep the windows closed.

Make Sure the Patient Can Comfortably Hear you

Always make sure to ask the patient if they can hear you at the start. Optimum patient engagement can only happen if you’re audible enough for the patient, if not, try moving closer to your microphone or ask the patient if they can turn their speaker volume up.

Share Some Tips with Patients

If telemedicine technology is fairly new to you, remember that it is just as new to your patients. It would be a good idea to create a cheat sheet with tips to quickly resolve expected issues.

Select Mature Technology Partner

Selecting a quality conscious and experienced vender will be critical to your success as an online service provider.  Advanced features like providing you with new patients, developing mailing lists, EHR integration, quick set up and great service are offered only by a handful of venders.

In addition, the entire package must be considered, and not just a reasonable fee structure. Many small to medium provider practices only look at price without looking under the hood. You may be able to save a bit with a below market price solution but may end up losing much more. Another good tip is to identify and evaluate all the components of the solution (product, support quality, reputation and price) and make a value evaluation sheet to figure out what works for you.