What makes a good telehealth tool?
Every healthcare business needs to incorporate telehealth tools in order to stay competitive, profitable, and successful. Almost every business nowadays is implementing telehealth into their business processes, and quite frankly, it’s a trend that’s here to stay. Using their services will allow you to elevate the quality of your practice, and ensure that your business operations run smoothly. Good telehealth tools should be reliable, secure, and cost-efficient, as well as convenient to use. They should have smooth interfaces that make for easy navigation, and have features that are customizable to your business needs, that leaves plenty of wiggle room to grow. Because there are a variety of tools out there, it’s important that you research the right ones that can be easily integrated with your current systems and databases, and that tick the box for every one of your business needs. Different telehealth tools tailor to different specialties and business goals, so you must ensure that the one you choose enables you to prioritize patient needs, stay organized, and maximize your operations. Telehealth tools are your friend, and failure to implement good ones can lead to losses in time, energy, and money.
Hardware tools required by a telehealth business
In your healthcare business, you need to consider some of the most important telemedicine hardware tools to ensure that you can effectively carry out business processes. The hardware consists of the technology tools that monitor, regulate, and connect your information and data, and incorporating the right ones can streamline administration in your private practice.
Endpoints
When it comes to telehealth, you’re probably operating on laptops, PC computers, tablets, and smartphones, meaning that your practice already has the main hardware components needed to assess patients and deliver treatment. If you’re unwilling to invest in such devices, you need to make sure that all the software you have is compatible with the hardware that you do own. Luckily, telehealth doesn’t deal with any particularly tricky elements, so you really only need devices that can support web and browser elements. Any modern device should be able to deal with this!
Network hardware
Standard network infrastructures should be sufficiently able to handle business processes, which includes your typical router and modem provided by an internet service provider. This is fine, considering that you should have a minimum 15Mbps download and 5Mbps upload speed. However, when growing your services, you may need to update this to handle increased traffic and security.
Webcams
As one of the most common telehealth types, webcams are essential to ensure you have a working camera and microphone to be able to communicate with patients in video conferencing. If patients can see you, you have far higher credibility than a blank screen, and so you must have a webcam with good video quality. Because most laptops have built-in cameras and microphones, you shouldn’t have to worry about purchasing an external one, which is handy!
Remote patient monitoring hardware
One of the great things about technology is that you can monitor patient activity outside of the office. Using remote patient monitoring software, you can evaluate patient health from any time and place. These hardware components differ depending on the patient's needs, and can be anything from thermometers, blood pressure devices, smartwatches, scales, and ECG technology.
Workstations and workspaces
Although it seems simple, you do need to consider workspaces for where you actually carry out clinical work. Some practitioners prefer physical office locations to do their remote video conferencing, in which case, desks may be needed. Standing desks are a common supply, but you need to assess whatever works best for you.
Software tools for telemedicine
Now that you’ve considered hardware, you also need to think about the software components that are essential to every healthcare business. Implementing the right software can significantly boost revenue in your healthcare practice, so you must incorporate the right tools. There are so many tools out there, and so below, we’ve compiled just a few of the most used systems for you to explore.
Videoconferencing software
Videoconferencing software is one of the most important aspects of telehealth businesses. After all, you will need to connect with patients virtually, and what better way to do so than talking face-to-face and through the comforts of your own home. Examples of software include:
Zoom for Healthcare – Becoming increasingly popular from the COVID pandemic, Zoom is a practical option for those in the healthcare industry. You may not be aware, but Zoom has a version that is tailored specifically for those in healthcare, and provides enhanced collaboration, compliance, and integration with medical devices.
Webex for Healthcare – Cisco also provides a healthcare version of their videoconferencing services, which provides centralized management, document sharing, and high security.
Remote patient assessment and monitoring software
As briefly mentioned, telehealth is a great way to monitor your patients outside of the office, and improve overall clinical outcomes. It’s a non-traditional way of delivering healthcare outcomes that nevertheless allows for significant improvements in treatment.
CBS Health – This is a great cognitive assessment platform that tracks brain health overtime, and can be used as a complement to treatment plans. As a web-based tool, it’s perfect for remote assessment.
Binah.ai – This is a highly unique and specialized tool that uses artificial intelligence and a webcam to track oxygen saturation and heart rate, which can be beneficial when needing biometric data from patients.
Apple Watch – Apple watches are the leading brand for smartphones, and with these devices, you can export data concerning their heart health, physical activity, and mindfulness.
Virtual healthcare portals
These are great for providing a variety of services, all from one place! With virtual healthcare platforms, you can make payments, view invoices, connect via video and texting services, produce and store clinical documents and notes, as well as make appointments. It’s a win-win for convenience!
Carepatron – Used by 10,000+ healthcare professionals, Carepatron offers a variety of valuable, HIPAA-compliant software options, and at different price points. The portal streamlines business processes and works to increase business revenue.
Teladoc – This is a great portal for healthcare practitioners of all different disciplines, and works for patients to access information on any device, and at any time and place.
Telehealth-friendly EMRs, EHRs, and practice management tools
While they may not be telehealth specific, these practice management tools are excellent for being able to deliver high-quality telehealth solutions to patients and can work to treat clients of their healthcare concerns.
Microsoft Teams – With videoconferencing and chat assistance, Microsoft Teams makes for easy communication and collaboration for healthcare professionals. It provides a simple way to conduct consultations, making it a good option for those wanting hassle-free software.
SimplePractice – While focusing on dieticians, this combines videoconferencing, screen sharing, and practice management systems all in one.
Trust Carepatron's software to take care of your telehealth business
When it comes to the right tools for your telehealth business, it can feel overwhelming examining all the possible options out there. Not to amplify this anxiety, but as a growing trend, it seems that these options are only expanding, and will continue to do so. That’s why, here at Carepatron, we’re here to help. We understand that healthcare should be simple and that at the end of the day, you’re only here to help your patients. With Carepatron’s software, you can guarantee improved business processes and revenue that will certainly allow you to do what you do best. Carepatron provides a system that allows online payments, clinical document notes and storage, appointment scheduling, video conferencing, text, and email messaging, as well as other data analytics to help you identify where to improve and grow. Healthcare has never been easier, and with our software used by over 10,000+ healthcare practitioners from a variety of disciplines, you can be sure to succeed. The best part is, it doesn’t have to cost a thing! With different payment plans, organizations of any size can employ our services, and you can rest easy knowing all your information is secure and customizable to your business needs.
Try Carepatron today and witness your team being more productive like never before!
Further reading:
The Use and Effects of Electronic Health Tools for Patient Self-Monitoring and Reporting of Outcomes Following Medication Use: Systematic Review
