Have you ever wondered about being operated on for surgery without anesthesia? Or, have you ever thought about what life would have been for the disabled if there were no prosthetic or artificial limbs? Also, could anyone even think about a successful health procedure without the use of imaging techniques? Indeed, such a scenario does not even seem close to being possible.
That is the power of medical science and innovations today. However, it wasn’t always like this; there has always been a gradual process towards the objective. Like every other sphere or area of life, medical science also has been through stages to reach an excellent status and make life convenient.
It is also fascinating to know about the professionals at the helm of affairs who control it all today. The industry could not achieve its success without the frontline workers’ undying commitments and administrative workers’ diligent contributions. In the most straightforward terms, healthcare administration experts manage the entire operation in any hospital. From routine matters, staffing, financing to planning, they are the ones driving it.
Over the past year or so, the need for telehealth services has risen dramatically. In fact, there was a 154 percent rise in telehealth visits for the last week of March 2020 compared to the same period for the previous year. Patients were unable to attend their regular doctor visits in person, necessitating some form of replacement. Luckily, thanks to technology advancements, it’s now possible to communicate with healthcare professionals from the comfort of your own home.
However, not every medical practice is doing all it can to provide telehealth services to its patients. In the future, it’s likely that more people will come to enjoy the convenience of telehealth services and prefer them over traditional visits. Therefore, it’s important for medical practices to start implementing telehealth services and doing so in the right way.
The Importance of Improving Your Telehealth Services
Telehealth encompasses several forms of communication, such as phone calls, video conferencing, conducting virtual visits and even monitoring patients remotely. To give your patients the best possible experience, you need to account for as many telehealth methods as you can. By providing more ways for patients and medical professionals to interact, and by ensuring you are doing your best with each of those methods, you can take better care of your patients and ensure they are happy with your services.
Below you’ll find some of the best telehealth practices you should consider implementing. Go through each one and see if it is something you can begin to do for your patients.
#1 – Protect Patient Information
The most important thing you need to do is protect patient information. As you will be sending out sensitive information over the internet, it’s essential that you take proper care to manage the security of this information. For example, you need to ensure that this information is encrypted properly and that only authorized people are able to view it.
There are certain standards you’ll need to adhere to, such as FHIR, which describes the security and privacy protocols you need to have in place. FHIR, or Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource, includes things such as how to create URLs and how to present patient information online in a secure and standardized way. As you add more telehealth options to your practice, ensure they meet all privacy requirements before implementing them.
#2 – Promote Your Telehealth Services
In many cases, medical offices offer telehealth services but their patients do not know about them. You should make it a standard practice to not only let each of your patients know about their options but provide clear instructions on how they can make use of them. For example, instead of just sending an email to each patient alerting them to your telehealth options, you can also include a telemedicine guide on how they can get started with it. The more you promote your telehealth services, and the easier you make them to use, the more popular they will become.
#3- Upgrade Your Equipment
Providing telehealth services requires modern technology equipment. If your office is running older equipment, now is the time to upgrade. For example, you’ll want devices that can handle video calls, including a high-quality camera and a stable internet connection. You may also need to upgrade your patient database software so that it can interact seamlessly with your new telehealth services, which may require getting new software or a faster machine. Look at upgrading your equipment as a solid investment for your future.
#4 – Fix Up Video Surroundings
When conducting video conferences with patients, you should pay attention to your surroundings. Set up your camera and area in such a way that you provide a professional experience when someone is video conferencing with you. You still want to give off a welcoming environment despite the fact that you are both in different locations.
To do this, start by improving your lighting. Ensure you have plenty of light in the video conferencing area and that it sufficiently lights up the speaker’s face. Beyond that, pay attention to the background. Instead of just a blank wall, try adding in some artwork on the wall or some plants. Improving your video chat background can go a long way towards providing a better experience, even if it seems like a small adjustment.
#5 – Prepare Before Telehealth Meetings
Even though telehealth meetings are more convenient for the patient, you still want to avoid wasting any of their time. Once the video conference begins, you shouldn’t spend time going through their file and reviewing their past patient history. Do this before the meeting starts, so that once you connect with the patient, you can get right down to the matters at hand. This demonstrates not only preparedness and professionalism but ensures maximum convenience for the patient by using less of their time.
#6 – Remember the Fundamentals
Finally, remember the fundamentals of doctor visits. Even though you are connecting over the internet, you should still keep these fundamentals in mind. For example, you can work to develop a rapport with the patient and spend time asking about their medical history. Telehealth medicine is meant to be efficient but that doesn’t mean it has to be impersonal. People need to trust their doctors so whatever you do to establish trust in person, look to do the same things through telemedicine.
Start Improving Your Telehealth Services Today
If your medical practice doesn’t already offer telehealth services, now is the perfect time to add them. For those of you that already offer telemedicine, spend some time reviewing how it operates. You may find that there is significant room for improvement, both for the medical professionals and the patients.
If you’re not sure of which areas you need to improve, try asking your patients. Ask them for feedback about their telehealth experience and what areas they would like to see you improve. Between the best practices above, and direct feedback from your patients, you should find plenty of ways to improve your telehealth services and establish a high-quality standard of care for a long time to come.
Medical science has progressed by leaps and bounds in the last few years. Recent studies and technological advancements have brought forward new healthcare practices.
However, with the rise in the spread of diseases, people attempt to be mindful and take necessary steps to promote health. An increasing number of people suffer from fluctuations in blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugar levels and need to consult physicians frequently.
Moreover, the outbreak of COVID-19 compelled people to take care of their health seriously. The new healthcare practices help healthcare workers to cater to patients’ illnesses and provide better treatments.
When a person falls ill, he or she affects the whole family. However, each family member has to play their part to help the patient recover and regain health. Family-centered health is an approach that involves planning and delivering healthcare services. It is worth mentioning that patients, their families, and medical workers are the major participants in family-centered healthcare, which is being protected by family law. For instance, special care patients are primarily dependent on the family. Each member can positively contribute to improving the patient’s health.
For some people, the concept of family-centered care is still new, and most of them not follow it much. Below we are listing some reasons behind family-centered health promotion:
Improved Decision-Making for Healthcare Services
Patients such as those with special needs are sensitive, and they unexpectedly get into some serious situations. Physicians are not available all the time, and family members have to intervene and make critical decisions. The family-centered approach enables family members who share space with patients to barge in and help patients cope with a sudden health crisis.
Medical institutes are venturing into e-education and offering online courses for non-medical and healthcare workers to get insight into different medical industry fields. An online MPH promotes health equity and helps in creating healthier communities. Individuals with differently-abled patients or those aiming to build a healthy community can take advantage of online programs and equip themselves with the skills.
Bariatrics is the field of medicine that looks after obese and overweight patients. Government statistics obtained from the Health Survey for England 2019 show that over three quarters of people aged over 16 in England were either obese or overweight.
The widely accepted definition for being ‘overweight’ is having a Body Mass Index (a calculation using weight and height) of over 25 and for being ‘obese’ is over 30. Patients with a BMI of more than 40 are considered morbidly obese.
Bariatric beds – the basics
As the rates of obesity within populations rise, the demand for bariatric services is rapidly increasing and medical facilities need the appropriate equipment to care for them safely. Overweight and obese patients need to be treated to help them lose weight but may also need treatment for the many health issues associated with obesity. Patients also need equipment to live safely and comfortably in their own homes. The safety, comfort and dignity of the patient are priorities when choosing equipment to meet their needs.
The process of choosing a bariatric bed can be confusing as there are many features to consider. Here’s a summary of the main things that you need to know before making your decision.
Whether it’s a recording in an unknown language, or a promise to get rich, or an offer for free solar panels, the volume of useless, intrusive noise has trained everyone to scrutinize every inbound call because phone calls that matter have increasingly become the minority.
While that call could have been from the doctor, or something important, the live connection was missed and now the cat and mouse game between patient and provider begins. For legitimate call centers that are charted to reach out, connect and help solve problems, the time has come to rethink how to drive better engagement and more scale. The answer isn’t to quadruple the number of agents.
According to some estimates, US mobile phone users were exposed to 48 billion robocalls in 2018, which means that every time the phone rings, there’s a 50% chance it’s a spam robocall.
Silence Unknown Callers
There are few viable solutions available for blocking 100% of these annoying intrusions, so the best option when that unknown phone number shows on the caller ID is to simply hit the decline button and move on with whatever you were doing.
Robocalls are essentially creating “anti-call center muscle memory” across the entire mobile phone user population. And that’s a problem for the healthcare industry.
Call centers have always been a big part of the healthcare patient experience. Challenges with being on hold, ineffective agents, and general customer dissatisfaction with call centers are well documented. But what about the outbound side?
Did you know that more than 3.5 billion individuals have some type of oral illness? Also, only 60% of Americans had a regular dental visit over the recent year. A routine dental visit is fundamental to finding issues as soon as possible and starting treatment to stop their progress. Specialists suggest having a routine dental visit once every 6 months.
During your regular visits, your dentist will check for cavities. They will likewise test for plaque and tartar. In the event that these buildup on your teeth, they can cause oral diseases. The second step is to check the gums. The visit also includes a checkup of your tongue, throat, face, head, and neck.
The world is becoming more digitized, with technology now being used to enhance all sectors including healthcare. There are lots of developments that are evidence of this including the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, telehealth services, wearable technology, and more to offer accessible and improved healthcare services.
Telehealth services, in particular, stands out because it allows patients to consult with physicians, set appointments, and receive healthcare services wherever they may be. In this article, we are going to explore how telehealth is transforming healthcare, especially in the current pandemic.
Improved Access To Healthcare
An obvious way that telehealth has transformed healthcare is that it has helped improves access to healthcare among patients who otherwise would not have access to healthcare. These include people suffering from chronic illnesses such as heart disease and hypertension who are afraid of visiting hospitals for fear of contracting COVID-19.
What is a Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Software?
RCM software links various administrative and clinical components together with claims processing, payments, and revenue generation. Every quality healthcare information system has a dedicated RCM module built into it.
Why Invest in a Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Software?
Effective laboratory revenue cycle management systems vitally contribute towards better health outcomes for the patients and hassle-free revenue management by achieving higher rates of error-free claims and minimizing delayed or failed payments.
Lack of Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Software impacts an organization’s potential
The absence of an RCM-enabled information system incurs billing errors, which will lead to loss of revenue. A steady decline in the overall potential of the healthcare organization ensues once these errors become recurring.
The US healthcare sector ends up paying $125 billion per year, every year for missed revenue opportunities due to errors in medical billing. Such type of errors is common with bills exceeding $10,000 or more (on average, such bills incur $1,300 in error-related loss in revenue).
Another aspect is the time lost in processing a rejected bill. Such a rejected bill may take up twice the processing time for the same revenue generated. Last but not the least, delayed payments from the insurance companies and denied claims cause unnecessary stress to the patient, thus creating patient compliance issues.
Medical science has progressed by leaps and bounds in the last few years. Recent studies and technological advancements have brought forward new healthcare practices.
