We are going through one of the toughest times in the history of the humankind with COVID-19 playing every corner of the world, with a number of contamination cases escalating every hour.
Everywhere people are asked to maintain social distancing and practice minimum contact with a fellow being as much as possible. But what about people getting contracted with other disease or suffering from any chronic conditions. They require periodic check-up, but with COVID patients queuing for screening outside every facility and hospital, they can not risk getting infected in their visitation.
These patients are dependent on the physician’s regular prescription for their regular healthy lifestyle. Also, losing out on these patients would mean adversely impacting your bottom line.
So how do you, as a medical practitioner, ensure that you are able to provide quality care and treatment to these patients without any disruption of the service?
The answer is telemedicine.
Telemedicine is the latest healthcare system with which the staff can dispense medical services through compliant virtual software and system.
This is especially helpful for the patients who put up in remote areas and can not commute on a regular basis to the clinic. Doctors can check their condition and prescribe medication in real-time on virtual systems.
But as easy it might sound, implementation of the telemedicine system can be challenging, especially when there is a lack of knowledge. Some of the common mistakes medical practitioners make when adopting telemedicine system are:
Not using the right video conferencing tool:
While there are many easy to use video conferencing applications, you can choose from, but these general applications are not suitable for telemedicine. Why? Since they do not meet standards and protocols of HIPAA and are thus not compliant to protect patient’s confidentiality and ensure data security. Only go for a compliant video conferencing tool.
Not checking the eligibility status:
Telemedicine billing is as complex as standard billing with state and federal laws affecting how the insurance providers will reimburse the payment to the providers. Another challenge in telemedicine billing is mistaking the eligibility status of the patients. This is why it is important to outside telemedicine facility to a credible company offering comprehensive service, ensuring that there are no mistakes in your part that can lead to denial, delay or rejection of the claims.
Not integrating telemedicine system with the EHR:
Only adopt telemedicine solutions that can easily integrate with the electronic health record system. Why? So that you or your staff do not have to fret over the duplicity of the data. Also, an integrated system ensures automatic data securing, which minimizes the possibility of any error in the patient health-related information stored in the cloud.
Using many telemedicine programs:
Telemedicine is a complex processing system, which is why it is important that if this is your first time, you have only one system in place. Implement every system one at a time. Adopting all the technologies at once might confuse your staff and do more worse than good to your facility and your mother of dispensing care.
As crucial is telemedicine implementation, so is it’s billing, which we would suggest you outsource to a reputable telemedicine billing specialist, whether it Gastroenterology billing specialists or oncology billing specialists.
Outsourcing will unburden your staff from the complexities of telemedicine billing so that you and your staff are able to provide better care and treatment through telemedicine service.It is important to make sure that the telemedicine billing service you are opting for ensures accelerated cash flow and streamline the revenue cycle of your facility. This is why we recommend outsourcing to a company that offers a 30-day free trial service without any obligation to sign up any long term contract.
