Virtual care is crucial to modern healthcare, but choosing the best telehealth options can be overwhelming. These 7 game-changing strategies will guide your transition and improve patient care, from optimized workflows to enhanced engagement.

With the healthcare industry still reeling from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual care services have emerged as a crucial aspect of healthcare delivery. But to provide patients with effective and efficient care, optimizing virtual care services is vital. Let’s explore how you can elevate your virtual care services to deliver unparalleled patient experiences.

What Is Virtual Care?

Virtual care encompasses various services and technology used to manage healthcare remotely. It involves communication between healthcare providers and patients through electronic devices such as computers, tablets, and monitors. Virtual care can include a range of medical services, such as consultations, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring of symptoms, and prescription of medications.

With virtual care, you can adopt a more holistic approach to managing your patients’ healthcare and enjoy improved patient-provider communication. Several types of virtual care services are available for your practice, including:

• Telehealth/ Telemedicine: Enables virtual visits with healthcare providers via video conferencing, telephone calls, online messaging, and telemedicine carts. It also encompasses a wide range of medical services, including screenings, diagnosis, management of acute infections and chronic conditions and virtual preventive care services. 
• Remote Monitoring: Utilizes wearables, sensors, Bluetooth devices, and patient observation carts to collect real-time health data from patients and send it to their healthcare provider. It enables remote medical staff to closely examine patient’s health conditions while proactively identifying and addressing potential issues before they escalate. 

• Patient Portals: Enhances patient engagement by providing patients with easy access to their medical information and allowing them to take a more active role in managing their healthcare. Patients can use patient portals to view test results, refill prescriptions, schedule appointments, and communicate with their healthcare provider. As a result, healthcare providers can provide more efficient and effective care, leading to better patient outcomes and overall satisfaction.
• Virtual Rounding: Utilizes digital technology such as videoconferencing software and virtual rounding carts to allow clinicians to check in with patients remotely to provide virtual primary care. 
• Virtual Nursing: Leverages technology such as virtual nursing carts and telemedicine systems to provide nursing services like assessment, monitoring, communication of care plans, and patient education and support remotely. It also enhances patient and provider safety by reducing the risk of exposure to infectious diseases, particularly during public health crises such as pandemics.

Offer the Best Virtual Care With These 7 Strategies

Incorporating virtual care services into your practice has become a necessity. But with the plethora of telehealth options available, the task can be daunting. 

The following seven game-changing virtual care management strategies will help you successfully transition and provide your patients with the highest quality care. From optimizing your virtual care workflows to enhancing patient engagement, these strategies will empower you to embrace the future of healthcare with confidence and excellence.

1. Make Sure Your Care Team Is Well Trained

Your care team is a crucial asset to the success of your practice. They are on the front line, handling the technology and tools necessary for day-to-day operations. ​​​​Ensuring that your staff members are up-to-date with the latest virtual care technologies, workflows, and training will improve the quality of care and increase patient satisfaction and trust in your practice.

You can train your staff in several ways:

1. Educate them on the tools, terms, and principles of virtual care as well as the technology needed for virtual visits.
2. Familiarize them with telemedicine terminology and privacy laws.
3. Train them on setting up remote meetings, establishing secure connections and patient portals, recording patient information, and using other tools integral to virtual care, such as telemedicine carts.
4. Provide hands-on training and role-playing sessions before offering virtual care services to patients.

2. Educate Your Patients on How Telehealth Services Work

Your patients may be apprehensive when you introduce virtual care visits into your practice. Thoroughly educating them on how it works and its benefits can alleviate their hesitations. First, explain the basics of the technology. Describe the tools and platforms you will use and provide information about technical requirements. Be sure to teach them how to resolve any potential technical issues quickly.

You should also address privacy and security. Explain how your practice will protect patients’ privacy during remote care and the security measures you have in place to keep their data safe and secure. 

Finally, explain how telehealth services affect their insurance coverage. Most health plans cover telehealth visits, but coverage can varydepending on state and policy limitations. Encourage your patients to contact their insurance company to learn the specific limitations of their policy.

3. Use Technology That Best Supports Your Practice

Virtual care relies heavily on technology to function correctly, so you must utilize it to its fullest potential.

Take time to set up important hardware such as computers, iPads, tablet and medical device carts. You should also set up software to help manage patient appointments, health records, billing, and other duties. Furthermore, you should make sure the hardware and software are secure with efficient encryption and data security protocols in place.

Consider cloud-based solutions that allow you to easily scale and adapt when needed. Ensure your technology has video conferencing capabilities and a secure file-sharing system to exchange medical records easily with patients and other healthcare providers.

4. Help Patients Manage Their Care From Electronic Devices

You should encourage your patients to use electronic devices regularly to take charge of their health, including tablets, computers, and monitors. Integrating virtual care solutions like telehealth carts and patient registration carts into your practice will be easier for your patients to be involved in their healthcare.

5. Have a Backup Plan for Technical Issues

Technical issues can interrupt virtual care workflows and ruin your schedule if you don’t have a backup plan. You can help prevent these issues by implementing a comprehensive IT infrastructure, including:

• Secured virtual private networks for data exchange
• Redundant servers
• Automated backup systems
• Secure cloud storage solutions

Establish protocols and policies for periodic software updates to keep all systems current. Make sure you have a dedicated team of trained IT professionals who can troubleshoot technical issues quickly and efficiently.

6. Regularly Revisit and Revise Your Virtual Care Processes

Optimizing virtual care processes is an ongoing endeavor. Revisit your strategies periodically, identify areas for improvement, and create new processes. Doing so will ensure you offer your patients the best virtual care possible and maintain the most efficient workflow.

7. Always Share the Benefits of Virtual Care

Finally, you should always share the benefits of virtual care with your patients and your employees. Mention benefits such as:

• Improved access to care
• Savings on patient medical expenses
• Streamlined workflows and reduced administrative burdens
• Reduced risk of exposure to infectious diseases, particularly during public health emergencies like pandemics

Why Strive To Improve the Telehealth Experience?

Telehealth services offer a multitude of advantages to both your patients and staff, making it a worthwhile investment to improve your healthcare delivery. These benefits include:

1. Improved patient access to quality healthcare: Eliminates common barriers to medical care such as long wait times, finding child or elder care, seeing specialists, and mobility issues. 
2. Decreased costs: Reduces costs for your practice by limiting your overhead expenses, such as PPE and expensive diagnostic systems. Remote monitoring and virtual specialist check-ins can help detect potential health problems before they become serious, reducing the likelihood of hospital readmissions and associated costs. 
3. Improved patient engagement, satisfaction, and outcomes: Improves communication between patients and their care team, accessibility to medical information and high-quality healthcare services, treatment plan acceptance, and the ability to observe and assess a patient in real-time.

Provide Convenient Medical Care With Advanced Virtual Care Carts

Virtual care represents a growing shift in the healthcare landscape. Utilizing new technologies and services allows you to reduce healthcare costs and improve patient satisfaction. By creating a more holistic approach to healthcare management and improving your telehealth services, you can ensure that your patients get the best care possible.

Virtual care carts can greatly enhance your telehealth services. These carts feature a wheeled base with a stand that mounts monitors, tablets, or laptops and audiovisual equipment. Are you interested in incorporating virtual care carts into your practice? Tryten has the perfect solution for you. We provide high-quality carts tailored to your practice. View our virtual care carts today to see how our wide variety of solutions can enhance your telehealth processes and improve your practice.