Top 10 Benefits of Telehealth for South African Patients and Doctors
Telehealth is a term used to describe the use of electronic communication and information technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient monitoring, and health management. The growth of benefits of telehealth services is outpacing traditional healthcare delivery models by a wide margin as patients and providers alike, discover the many advantages of this innovative technology.
Telehealth is powered by digital technology, allowing us to reimagine the doctor’s appointment as a house call without the trip! From primary care to radiology, cardiology to orthopedics, telemedicine has been in use recently as an option for patients who cannot go to a physical location for their medical treatment.
SaaS (Software-as- a- Service) telehealth apps have become commonplace and can be found in the pockets or purses of both doctors and patients. Today’s telehealth platforms do not require large upfront capital costs but are instead included in monthly subscription packages that are HIPAA-compliant and safe.
Let’s take a look at the top 10 benefits of telehealth applications for doctors and patients. How can these new business models transform the way doctors treat patients?
10 Benefits of Telehealth
1. Advances New Business Models
By improving consumer-based care, telehealth as a commercial model is reshaping the paradigm. According to an article in mHealthIntelligence, “Specialists are now finding that they can launch their own telehealth platform to consumers, offering their services online much like a banker, real estate agent or other businessperson.” Clinicians can use telehealth to grow their patient base beyond brick-and-mortar locations, expanding hours and offering patients new and more convenient models of care.
2. Improves Patient Engagement with Remote Monitoring
Consumerism and value-based reimbursement have prompted hospitals and health systems to promote new ways of connecting with their patients to promote self-care. Taking a proactive approach to patient care entails clinicians teaching patients how to care for themselves between clinical sessions.
With the increase in chronic health issues, medical professionals can improve results while also reducing costs by using telehealth for remote monitoring. Today, telehealth is used to share patient data from the patient’s own home, whereas remote teams serve as a coach and counselors as they assist patients in their health journey.
3. Expands Access to Care and Reaches More Patients
We are aware of the growing physician shortage and telehealth has the potential to help quadcare expand our provider networks in novel ways to provide access to care. The benefits of Telehealth can be used to connect patients in remote locations. The tool can be used for both midlevel patient education and physician diagnosis, allowing for new ways to reach more individuals.
4. Improves Clinical Workflows and Increases Practice Efficiency
Telehealth has the potential to improve healthcare workflow efficiency. Benefits of Telehealth can facilitate faster prioritization of care delivery by gathering, storing, and using patient data for improved medical decision-making, triaging each case, and improving communication. According to the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), telehealth is a part of some of the nation’s highest-performing practices. These technologies can contribute to performance enhancements, such as increasing patient satisfaction levels.
5. Increases Practice Revenue
Along with lowering per-visit overhead expenses, the benefits of telehealth are more convenient for patients and providers. Telehealth allows clinicians to charge for unpaid phone calls while simultaneously increasing billable hours. Telehealth reduces no-shows and can increase a practice’s efficiency. By Benefits of Telehealth can also help organizations gain a competitive edge by attracting and retaining more patients via innovative treatment models.
6. Reduces Practice Overhead
Compared to costly hospital systems, SaaS telehealth solutions are very affordable to implement. However, By benefits of telehealth appointments are far less expensive than regular on-site visits. Typically, an emergency room visit costs between *R1200-R2000* per day, whereas an on-site doctor’s office visit costs *R350-400*. In comparison, a telehealth appointment costs an average of *R200* per visit.
7. Cuts Patient Costs
Our patients at quadcare invest a significant amount of money and time in their healthcare. During a the benefits of telehealth appointment, the doctor visits the patient via phone, laptop, or other digital devices. Consider how travel, parking, childcare, and time may add up. The additional effort required to get to a distant doctor’s clinic might be tiring, but it’s the fees that can quickly add up.
Patients from remote places must travel overnight to see specialists in larger cities. Oregon Health and Science University, based in America, saved $6.4 million (R 9.8 million) in annual travel expenditures for its patients by introducing a telemedicine service. According to one UPMC patient survey, 40% of patients said they would skip treatment if they did not have access to virtual visits due to the difficulty of excessive travel to their clinics.
8. Benefits of telehealth: Improves Healthcare Quality
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Telehealth improves healthcare quality, especially in rural areas. This is because technology has the potential to significantly improve service delivery and treatment of acute diseases. The benefits of Telehealth are often used to avoid unnecessary emergency room visits. It also improves patient convenience by allowing them to receive treatment without having to travel long distances.
9. Reduces Patient No-Shows
Becker’s published a case study earlier this year on a Nebraska Children’s Hospital that suffered from frequent no-shows, in part because rural patients traveled great distances to receive treatment at the state-of-the-art hospital. No shows had grown into a serious revenue loss for the organization, compromising the quality of service, especially during follow-up visits. When they expanded treatment via benefits of telehealth, the targeted service line saw a 50% reduction in no-show rates.
10. Improves Patient Satisfaction
Patient satisfaction is a critical metric for telehealth success. 87% of patients who have used the OrthoLive telehealth application say that they would do it again. According to a patient study conducted by the CVS Minute Clinics nationwide chain, patients reported a satisfaction rate of up to 99 percent with their telehealth appointment. These results have been observed in clinical settings, including the Cleveland Clinic, the VA, and children’s hospitals.
Telehealth Is Growing In South Africa
Due to the pandemic, Doctors and specialists alike, have been significantly impacted, with declining consultations of between 60% and 90%, and have raising concerns about their livelihoods.
However along with this, the pandemic has resulted in the growth of the benefits of telehealth and the telemedicine industry, also known as telehealth, which provides doctors with a virtual alternative to physical consultations and comes at a much lower cost for patients.
Why Use Telemedicine? And How are the benefits?
Why have these providers been so receptive to what some might call a “disruptive” technology?
Whether it’s a more effective medication just authorized by SAHPRA, a revised orthopedic practice aimed to reduce hospital stays, or virtual appointments, the answer is the same: These are necessary practice improvements at a time when every visit should offer “value” to the customer.
According to Becker’s Spine Review, one of the major trends affecting orthopedic practices in the coming years will be decreasing reimbursement. Telemedicine solutions allow orthopedists to simplify services in ways that benefit both patient care and practice overhead.
When seen in this way, adopting a cloud-based subscription telemedicine application tailored specifically for orthopedic practices makes perfect sense — it’s a market-driven necessity.
Now that you’ve seen how telemedicine can be used in your practice, isn’t it time to see quadcare in action? Contact us today.
