How to Solve Patient Concerns on Telehealth
Keeping your patients happy and healthy is a must for any medical practice. Despite having many concerns, 88% of the U.S. population are opting to use telehealth to receive medical consultations. However, the new normal poses new challenges for medical providers to conquer. With the rise of telehealth, medical practitioners need to tackle new patient concerns. Here’s how you can solve them.
Concern #1: Patients are worried about getting bad service and low-quality care
According to the survey, approximately 47% of patients worry that they will receive bad service or low-quality care via telehealth. They’re afraid that the doctors that will handle their consultation might be poorly trained. However, your existing patients already trust the quality of your service and care from experience but might trouble you from inviting new ones.
How to Solve It:
Reassure your potential and new patients by following the tips below:
- Use high-quality equipment
You can never go wrong in investing in high-quality telehealth equipment like a webcam, tablet, or phone. High patient satisfaction and great patient experience are just some of its ROI’s as it ensures a secure and flawless online consultation.
- Read the patient’s medical record before the visit
Knowing in advance your patient’s general medical history and immediate reason for making an appointment ensures that their time is not needlessly wasted going over what should already have been clear.
- Prepare a dedicated room
Find a room that has good lighting and is relatively quiet. Be aware of what’s in the background, you should be working in a clean, non-distracting environment.
- Use telehealth technology that is integrated with your EHR
Using a telehealth platform that is compatible with your electronic health records will give you the ability to quickly and efficiently survey patients and offer appropriate advice.
- Practice telehealth visits with non-patients, prior to going live
This is essential. Practicing telehealth visits will help you find common technical bugs and audio/visual problems before the patient enters the virtual exam room.
Concern #2: Online Security of Health Information
There are 39% of patients that worry about potential data leaks and doubt the security of telehealth. Your patients should feel safe and secure that their health records won’t fall into the wrong hands.
How to Solve It
Give assurance to your patients by properly communicating the following before their appointments:
- Telehealth Policy
- Patient’s right to privacy
- HIPAA-compliance
Concern #3: Technical Issues
An estimated 39% of patients worry about technical issues with their telehealth consultations. Most of these patients are the elderly. They now use telehealth in lieu of in-person visits since they are at high risk of contracting severe complications from COVID-19. Most of them aren’t technologically savvy that’s why they worry a lot about using telehealth.
How to Solve It?
Make your website as user-friendly as possible. It should be easy to navigate and simple too. You have to put in mind that there are patients that aren’t as technologically savvy as you expect them to be so don’t overwhelm them with ads or dropdown menus. Your platform should be clear, simple, and uncomplicated that is easy for any patient to access.
Partner with DrCatalyst
Today is your lucky day. We’re giving you a free comprehensive revenue cycle check-up with our medical billing experts to help you improve your patient collection. DrCatalyst offers end-to-end revenue cycle management services that will help your practice increase your revenue and reduce medical billing inefficiencies that hurt your cash flow.
