Are you planning to implement a telemedicine solution at your medical practice? Here are all the essential things that you need to have in place to make the implementation a success:

Medical practices are increasingly embracing digital health technologies to deliver superior quality care. Telemedicine is undoubtedly one of the widely acknowledged health information technologies with the potential to become an integral component of patient care.

Are you planning to implement a telemedicine solution at your medical practice? Here are all the essential things that you need to have in place to make the implementation a success:

Technologies Needed

The foremost requirement for implementing a telemedicine solution at your practice is a sound technical infrastructure. The kind of facilities needed depend upon a variety of factors, including the patient type and the location of the patients. Typically, you will need:

• A strong and uninterrupted internet connection
• Video-conferencing enabled devices such as a smartphone, a tablet or a computer, with a camera and a microphone
• Integrated Electronic Health Records (EHR)
• An integrated billing system

Options Available to Connect with the Patients

The providers can connect with their patients through three different mechanisms using telemedicine:

• Through networked connections – Remote healthcare organizations are connected to more extensive healthcare facilities through the internet. The patients are required to check-in at the site of the telemedicine interaction. The medical staff will prepare the exam room with diagnostic equipment before the telemedicine encounter to save up on time and keep everything ready before the exam.
• Point to point connections – Smaller practices are connected with larger, central healthcare systems via high-speed internet. Through such arrangements, these clinics can outsource to specialties in larger settings within the same healthcare system. This mechanism is a rational response to the increasing concerns over staffing shortages.
• Remote patient monitoring – Patients who are located at remote locations can have easy access to care through this mechanism. Patients who are looking for immediate access to healthcare for non-urgent conditions are typically facilitated through such encounters. Patients can schedule appointments online from home and seek access to their healthcare facility there and then.

Payment Models

Providers get reimbursed for delivering telemedicine services through Medicaid, Medicare, or through commercial payers. Many of the legislations governing telemedicine has been relaxed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

To get paid through Medicare, the provider must first be an authorized telehealth practitioner who is allowed to provide consultations. The patient receiving the services must be located in an established telehealth sire. The interaction has to be exclusively in an audio-video setting. However, such coverage has been expanded for other phone-based services.

For Medicaid, telemedicine reimbursements typically follow state mandates. They are based on the type of telemedicine service provided, the type of healthcare professionals who are entitled to apply for reimbursements, and the location of the patients.

Or you can get reimbursed privately. Not all patient insurance covers telemedicine. Hence, providers need to run a thorough check before committing and proceeding with the televisit.

Other Considerations

It remains imperative to note that if you want to practice telemedicine across state lines, you need to be licensed to practice telemedicine in the patient’s state. If you don’t have a valid license for that area, you are not authorized to see and treat patients in that state.

Billing for telemedicine is relatively simple. You need the same codes for billing televisits as you need for an in-person visit since insurance companies consider both the services equivalent. The only difference is the code that is used for the ‘place of service’.