Over the past few years, Telemedicine has seen an increased adoption rate of 71 percent. Multiple reports have shown that the Telemedicine market is expected to grow even more in the next years.
A report from Tractica, states that Telehealth lives, video consultations will increase to 158.9 million per year by 2020. Another report by Mordor Intelligence anticipates that telemedicine will be worth more than 66 billion by the end of the year 2021.
We must remember that Telemedicine contributes significantly to the IT spending by the healthcare industry. The increased demand for digital health platforms will allow the market to continuously grow at a rapid pace.
It is no news that the Telemedicine trend will help shape the future of the healthcare industry. And It will continue to grow as it helps close the gap between patients and healthcare providers.
The Tractica report anticipates that video consultations will outnumber clinical consultations by 2019.
Considering that there is a decreasing number of physicians in rural areas, a growth of high deductible health plans, and an opioid crisis, key technology such as Telemedicine is vital to resolving these issues.
These factors, while they cause a burden in the healthcare market, are also making the use of Telemedicine more valuable.
A Journal by the American Health and Drug Benefits on “Healthcare Trends for 2018” identifies Telemedicine as one of the key trends in 2018 going into 2020. The Journal quotes the National Rural Hospital Association explaining that currently “one in three rural hospitals is in financial risk” and at that rate, 25% of all rural hospitals will close “within less than a decade.”
As long as rural providers continue to turn to new technology such as Telemedicine, they will be able to survive.
“Technologies, such as telehealth and telemedicine, and consumer health wearables or smartphones, can enable rural-based care systems to consolidate specialty care services and referrals as ways to survive and grow in an evolving market,” stated the journal.
The Deloitte Center of Health Solutions released a Healthcare and Life Sciences Predictions 2020 report predicting the world in 2020 with the top trends in healthcare based on current trends and events in the industry.
The report predicts that in 2020 web-based portals that enable complaint and reimbursable video consultations between patient and physician will be supported by a “wide array of web-integrated wireless monitoring devices.”
It also predicts that Tele-mentoring will have full regulatory approval and clinician support.
Telemedicine promises to solve the most challenging problems in the healthcare system for the next years to come, allowing access to care in a cost-effective way. The accessibility, convenience, and affordability that Telemedicine offers will allow patients to access to top quality care at their fingertips.
Due to the rising cost of healthcare, Higher deductibles and out-of-network fees more and more patients are looking for ways to save money while still getting high-quality health care.
Whether you are insured or not, it is important you make a well-informed decision regarding your health.
We have gathered five tools that you can use in order to save money.
1. Consider Telemedicine Visit
Patients can save a significant amount of money by opting for a telemedicine appointment. These virtual visits are more time and cost effective than a traditional visit in some cases.
For instance, if you have a non-emergency question regarding your health and are considering going to the emergency room or urgent care, a video-conferencing appointment makes more sense in this case. You will be able to communicate with your physician in a reasonably timely manner.
Telemedicine appointments typically cost approximately between $30 to $50, as opposed to $100 for an in-person visit to a doctor’s office or $160 at an urgent-care clinic. And this is assuming your insurance does not cover these visits.
2. Check prescription prices online with GoodRx
Before you have your doctor send in an e-prescription or you take your prescription to your local pharmacy, you could check for prices online with websites such as GoodRx. Since drug prices vary wildly between pharmacies, it is difficult to know which will give you the best price.
Luckily, GoodRx allows patients to search the price for a prescription drug, and even obtain coupon discounts for multiple pharmacies.
According to their site, you are able to compare prices for FDA-approved prescription drugs at more than 70,000 national pharmacies, find free coupons to use and show you the lowest price at each pharmacy near you.
This tool can become very handy and will help you make better and more cost-effective decisions when it comes to your health care.
3. Check lab test prices online
Just like searching for competitive prices for prescription drugs online, you could also check how much it would cost to get a lab test done before letting your doctor order it. Consult with your doctor if it’s absolutely necessary since in some cases your condition might resolve itself before ordering an expensive lab test.
Sites such as Walk-in labs, healthlabs, PriceCheck tool, etc, get data on lab test prices from the marketplace or patient crowdsourcing allowing you to make the best decision based on your budget.
These tools will also allow you to find out if you could pay with cash for certain lab test. Surprisingly, in some cases, CAT scans, X-rays, and ultrasounds will have reduced fees if paying with cash.
Walk-in Labs, for instance, offers a blood test for as little as $24.
4. Estimate your healthcare expense before a procedure
If your physician is suggesting a non-emergency procedure or if you absolutely need to get one, you could use multiple sites online that will give you an estimate of your healthcare expense before you agree to the procedure.
First, find out the exact name of the procedure and how it’s referred to in the medical billing system- you will need a Current Procedural Terminology (CPT code)- You can ask your provider for this code. Next, If you’re insured, start your research is your health plan.
If you are not insured or your health plan is not providing you with all the information, opt for using online sites to search for pricing in your area. Sites such as fairhealthconsumer.org, healthcareblubook.com, changehealthcare.com, or newchoicehealth.com allow you to search for pricing based on rates offered by providers to private insurers or Medicare.
5. Look for a doctor who offers follow up visits online
To reduce travel costs, look for a healthcare provider that offers follow up visits online. Most of the time these follow up visits last less than 30 minutes. The average patient travels an hour each way to see their preferred physician.
A study by UC Davis found that with the help of Telemedicine a patient could save four hours of time behind the wheel and more than $150 in travel costs over the span of 20 years of medical appointments.
Disclaimer: All the information found in this article are based on the opinions of the author unless otherwise noted. This information is not legal or medical advice and the consumer should seek expert recommendation before making any medical decision.
Patients nowadays expect a practice that can fully offer and support digital medicine. In fact, 92 percent of patients that improving consumer experience should be a top goal when deploying digital health tools. Patients want to have control over when, where and how they receive health care. And a practice that lacks the right technology could potentially drive patients away.
Implementing digital medicine into your practice can be challenging, but it will significantly improve the efficiency of your practice.
If you are looking to use digital tools to upgrade your practice, there are a few things you need to know before you get started. This short guide will show you how to successfully adopt digital tools into your practice.
Define organizational goals
If you are considering starting digital medicine, it is crucial that you define why are you considering it and what you hope to accomplish. It is also important that you think about some of the most challenging problems you are currently experiencing in your practice, and how this technology will solve the issues.
Improving consumer experience should be a top goal when utilizing digital health tools, but keep in mind that you will be able to accomplish the following as well by implementing digital medicine: increase revenue, improve accessibility, reduce hospital readmissions, attract new patients and improve patient loyalty.
Understand the requirements
Now that you have defined your goals, it is essential that your practice is able to support digital medicine tools, and understand that IT infrastructure will play a key role.
First, your practice will need access to desktops, laptops, or tablets with reliable web cameras. You will also need to have a reliable high-speed internet connection to make sure you are able to connect with your patients without any problems.
Second, research the implications of licensing and reimbursement of digital medicine since these vary by state and insurance policies.
And lastly, prepare your staff for the transition by educating them about the benefit of these tools and what to expect when the implementation takes place.
Chose a digital medicine platform
Once you are ready to commit to a platform, it is important that you do extensive research on which company can offer you the best platform for your practice.
When doing your research, consider that your patients are looking for the following features: online bill pay, patient-provider communication, digital prescription filling, and virtual health services. Make sure that the provider is HIPAA compliant to ensure the security of the patient as well as the practice from costly HIPAA violations.
For more information on how Patientclick can help you get started, contact us for a free consultation at info@patientclick.com or call 1-877-901-9990
It is no news that there is an increasing preference for virtual (Face-to-Face) visits over in-person visits. For follow-up visits, the numbers are also high in terms of preference.
A JAMA Surgery study on veterans found that telemedicine is as “effective as in-person follow-up visits for post-surgery situations.”
The study showed that 69 percent of the participants preferred virtual follow-ups to in-person follow-ups. Those who preferred virtual visits are those who tend to live farther from the physician’s office than those who preferred office visits.
It also showed that most patients seem to prefer these type of virtual care visits after a surgical discharge.
Follow-up care is essential for any patient but can be difficult to manage since patients tend to miss these. In fact, Patient no-show rates range anywhere from 5 percent to 50 percent. Patients miss their follow-up appointments due to high costs, time management, and demographics.
A study by Dr. Ali Haider from the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center found that Face-to-Face visits had better scores for compassion, communication skills and professionalism than 71 percent of patients prefer face-to-face visits according to the study.
An Annals Of Family Medicine Journal found that patients identified “convenience, efficiency, communication, privacy, and comfort as domains that are potentially important to consider when assessing video visits vs in-person encounters.”
This is why patients prefer video-based appointments because it solves most of their barriers when it comes to communicating with their physician in a timely manner.
Convenience
Video-based follow-up appointments offer a great deal for patients who have recently had surgery and do not desire to travel to the physician’s office. Unlike a phone call, a virtual appointment allows the physician to detect a possible wound infection that can be confirmed at an in-person visit.
In terms of reducing costs, virtuals visits cost about half of the cost of an in-person visit; about $40 to $50 per visit. If it’s just a follow-up appointment.
JAMA surgery also study found that most participants reported a positive experience with video visits and the convenience of not having to miss work, travel or change attire.
Citing the study: One patient said, “You’re sitting right in your room on your computer. How much more convenient can that be? And you don’t even have to take a shower. I mean you can get on the computer, talk to the doctor, go back to bed.”
Reduced costs
ent, patients can feel discouraged to attend to an in-person visit due to the higher cost. In this case, virtual visits offer a better deal and are as effective as an in-person follow-up. These virtual visits are also increasingly becoming covered by insurance.
With In-person visits, usually patients need to make time out of their busy lives to see a doctor, and that often includes having to use PTO or hire a sitter. Video-based follow-ups offer the flexibility of getting care from their home or office without accruing any extra cost.
With the implementation of Meaningful Use, healthcare organizations were encouraged to switch to an Electronic Health Record software. But many practices were rushed into making the decision, picking the absolutely WRONG software for their practice.
It is crucial for your practice to take your time to research and avoid making the same EHR mistakes to help protect your office from costly errors and unnecessary heartache.
Switching your EHR can be another challenging nightmare. But chances are you are missing out on some essential features that might significantly improve patient care and streamline office efficiency.
If you have decided to look for a new EHR software, you in the right place because we have gathered the top 5 features that the best EHR software companies make them successful.
Patient Portal
A top-of-the-line patient portal will give users access to multiple features that will make their lives easier and speed you practice’s streaming process. These features include: visit summaries, medications, lab results, secure communication exchange with the provider through email or virtual visit, appointment scheduling, patient education, request a prescription refill.
Billing
Getting paid by your services should be at the top of your priorities as a practice. An EHR software that allows you to do that in a seemingly way, will take care of basic tasks while the billing staff focus their time on more complex claims or collecting cash for the practice rather than spending time on data entry.
Some features you’ll want to look for: Automate claim submission, process single or batch eligibility checks, or help with auto-posting of Explanation Of Benefits for the practice.
Documentation
Keeping track of notes during appointments is key. Look for a software that allows you to create notes and charts in multiple ways tailored to your needs. The best EHR in the market will offer different ways to create and customize chart notes to accommodate your needs.
E-prescription
Your EHR should have the ability of E-prescribing. This tool eliminates the risk of incorrectly filling prescriptions due to human errors. Checking drug interaction will be an option offered that can be done during the time of prescribing to avoid drug contradictions.
Meaningful Use certification
As we discussed earlier, Medicare and Medicaid offer incentives to those physicians who can prove they are using “Meaningful Use” technology. Look for a software that provides you with the ability to track and monitor your practice’s performance, and track and fix meaningful use requirements.
Conclusion
EHR softwares are essential to providing excellent patient care, improve patient satisfaction and positively impact performance for physicians and private practice providers. The key to reaching optimal performance is finding the best software for your practice.
For more information on how Patientclick can help you switch your EHR, contact us for a free consultation at info@patientclick.com or call 1-877-901-9990