What to Look for in a Telehealth Service?

The marketplace has gotten a little more crowded with telemedicine providers over the past few years. That’s in part because investors have recognized the incredible opportunities for these e-health applications to improve healthcare.

It’s not like telehealth is a new technology. In fact, the historical record of telemedicine dates back to the late 1950s. Today, telemedicine has evolved into all kinds of wearable devices that transmit data between the physician and the patient. Telehealth is a common application in everything from post-surgical routine monitoring of patient vitals to chronic diabetes management.

Today, the technology is being applied in new ways while some of the barriers to reimbursement have been dropping. The next wave of telehealth providers includes software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies like OrthoLive, offering a low-cost specialty-specific telemedicine service.

With technology changing all the time, how can a practice pick the best telehealth vendor that will benefit clinicians and patients? How can you assess the telemedicine software to be sure it fits your practice? How will you know that the company will protect you and your patients while providing technology to improve patient outcomes?

Most software applications are not one-size-fits-all. As you’re looking for a telehealth provider, think first about how you will use the service in your practice. We generally recommend a needs assessment as a systematic process for determining why telehealth could be right for your practice.

Taking the time upfront to conduct a needs assessment is an important opportunity to engage your team in this endeavor. Just like with any new workflow or technology change, you know the importance of getting buy-in from your clinical staff. Engage your team in asking:

• What are the specific needs of the population you’re serving and how will the e-health application meet those needs?
• Which practice workflows will support telehealth?
• Which workflows will need to change?
• How will offering telehealth improve your practice ROI?
• Consider the perspective of your patients when discussing how to implement telehealth. How will you roll out the service?
• How can telehealth compliment the services we’re already providing?
• How will telehealth change reimbursement?

A needs assessment is the first important step toward choosing a telehealth provider. Like all needs assessments, it will help you make better decisions for your practice. Although it’s a bit outdated, here’s a decent set of checklists from the California Telemedicine and eHealth Center. OrthoLive can also help you with this process.

Once you’ve made the decision to implement e-health, there are a number of questions you should ask telemedicine vendors to determine if they are a good fit. The first questions have to do with the software application itself. Take a demo of the product and then talk with software companies. Ask vendors, first, some questions about the software:

Software Questions:

• Who built the application? Look for platforms that were designed by clinicians.
• How is this vendor different from their competitors?
• What are some custom options to fit your specialty practice?
• What browsers, devices, and systems will it run on?
• Is the software cloud-driven or should it be installed?
• Is it HIPAA compliant and will it have a BAA with the vendor?
• Is the software tied to your EMR?
• Does it have an e-prescribe option?
• Is there a mobile app?
• Does it have screen sharing, screen flipping, and annotation tools to make it easy for the patient to show an injury?
• Does it have secure text chatting with the ability to send pictures?
• How does the application interface with insurance?
• Where does the doctor record visit notes?
• How does the data from the telehealth application translate to billing?
• Can the vendor provide advice and support as you transition to this new way of seeking reimbursement?
• How easy is payment by insurance or self-pay?
• Will it require on-site IT expertise to run the software?
• What has the vendor done to ensure data security?

Next, turn your attention to the support that the vendor may or may not provide.

Customer Service Questions:

• What kind of training is available for staff and patients?
• What kind of support after go-live is available for staff and patients?
• Are there any costs for additional support?
• When is it available?
• Can the e-health vendor help your roll out the program by helping you market the service?

If you’re comfortable with the e-health vendor up to this point, it’s time to start asking about the costs of the service.

Pricing and Fees:

• Is there any equipment to buy?
• What bandwidth will you need to provide this service?
• Is training included in the monthly fee?
• Is there a start-up cost?

If the service is housed in the cloud, there shouldn’t be any additional technologies to buy, although a bump in practice Internet bandwidth may be necessary. Too, a crucial benefit of using cloud technology is that software updates, particularly critical cybersecurity upgrades, can all happen in real-time in the cloud. For telemedicine software that is installed at your practice, updates must also happen on-site, which can be time-consuming and unwieldy.

Ask the telehealth vendor if they would let you speak with current customers on the service. Ask these customers if there were any unexpected costs. Also, how did go-live work? Another important question is to find out how their patients responded to the service and how they rolled it out.

Just like any other service, you would purchase, do you “trust” the vendor? While we know this isn’t the most analytical of questions, it does go to what is really important any time you hire a third-party vendor. Do you believe they are skilled in the technology, the software could support your practice, and their customers have been well-taken-care-of? All of these issues may require more of a gut-check than a doctor would be comfortable with, but trusting the company is always a part of the sales process.

It’s important to note that a practicing orthopedic physician designed the OrthoLive product. That’s one of the biggest differentiators that set our telehealth application apart from more generic platforms. OrthoLive is a secure and tested telehealth application that 85% of patients say they would use the application again. We’d like the opportunity to be your trusted advisor. Contact us today.