How Telemedicine Reduces Costs for Your Practice and Patients

A crowded waiting room in your medical practice suggests a substantial patient population, which is critical to maintaining a healthy bottom line. 

But if you don’t offer telemedicine services, some patients may feel discouraged by the need for in-person appointments, even when a virtual visit would suffice for non-urgent consultations. You risk alienating patients as they consider switching to a practice that allows them to have a follow-up visit through the screen of their portable device or desktop computer.

 

Telemedicine Overview

Your patients can connect with you over a secure platform using their smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer from any location with an internet connection. The telemedicine system should integrate with your practice’s Electronic Health Record software. 

To keep patient information safe and secure, telemedicine systems have to adhere to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Healthcare providers who transmit patient information electronically are subject to HIPAA requirements related to telemedicine.

The platform you use for telemedicine must safeguard sensitive data from criminal hackers. You will only allow access to authorized healthcare providers on your staff.

How does telemedicine reduce costs? Read on for insight into the financial benefits to your practice that come from offering virtual encounters.

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alt=""Reduce your practice’s overheard costs

alt=""Cut down on administrative workload

alt=""Patients save money and time, leading to greater satisfaction

alt=""Consult with your patients while they’re traveling

alt=""Streamlined services

alt=""Fewer no-shows

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Reduce your practice’s overhead costs

A chief benefit of offering telemedicine services to your patients is that you can do more work with less physical space. You won’t need to expand your facilities for patient waiting rooms or examination rooms as your practice treats a growing patient population, when more patients connect to your team from remote. 

Seeing more patients through virtual consultations also means you can reduce staff or avoid needing to hire more administrators to manage a larger number of in-person appointments.

 

Cut down on administrative workload

Since telemedicine systems are based on computer systems, your staff will not need to process as much paperwork, as is the case with some in-person visits.

This saves time, since your team will not have to type in information from a stack of papers into your computer system, if you’re not already utilizing efficient healthcare technology.

You’ll also avoid errors that occur when transcribing documents from paper to digital records. As a result, your practice operates much more efficiently, while still providing the same level of care. Of course, patients benefit too, since it’s easier and faster to provide information in digital format than dealing with a stack of papers on a clipboard.

 

Patients save money and time, leading to greater satisfaction

In addition to reducing the costs of running your practice, telemedicine systems also help patients save time and money, which translates to improved person-centered care.

 

In addition to convenience, HealthLeaders states that telemedicine can significantly reduce healthcare costs. For example, each telemedicine visit can save approximately $19 to $120 by minimizing the need for in-person appointments and reducing travel and urgent care expenses.

 

Thanks to telemedicine services, patients who can avoid rearranging their schedule to physically show up for an in-person appointment will appreciate the time and transportation costs they save.

And if your practice serves patients living in remote, rural locations, the convenient telemedicine visits you enable will make their lives easier, which will encourage them to be more loyal to your practice.

 

Consult with your patients while they’re traveling

Imagine your patients traveling out of state for vacation or a business trip, and needing to consult with a doctor. They’d prefer to speak with their regular physician or nurse practitioner when they’re in an unfamiliar environment.

If you do not offer telemedicine services, the traveling patient will need to make do with a healthcare professional in their current location. With telemedicine, your ability to provide continuity of care also means you will be paid for the virtual visit, instead of losing this income to a doctor’s office in a distant location.

 

Streamlined services

Deploying a telemedicine solution allows a practice to streamline operations, as the virtual patient visits do not require scheduling a physical appointment. You can make better use of your limited time and attention, even while seeing a higher number of patients who communicate with you digitally.

 

Fewer no-shows

How many no-shows is your practice experiencing each month? You can cut down on missed appointments when you offer the option for patients to connect through virtual visits.

Since it’s easier for a patient to engage with your practice through a HIPAA-secure telemedicine system than it is to take off time from work and arrive at your brick-and-mortar facility, you can anticipate fewer no-shows. 

You’ll save money and time, since your staff won’t have to address no-shows and schedule new visits.

Benchmark Solutions Telemedicine System Enables Reduced Costs

Not every patient encounter needs to be conducted in person at your office. Often, it’s possible to schedule routine follow-up visits via videoconferencing. 

Your rural patients will appreciate that they don’t have to drive long distances to see their physician when the telemedicine system will suffice. And when your patients go on vacation and need to consult with you while away from home, they’ll have the peace of mind that comes from knowing their doctor will be available from remote, such as through their smartphone, tablet or laptop. 

As your medical practice strives to reduce costs while still providing the same level of care to patients, it’s prudent to set up a robust telemedicine system. Offering telemedicine services helps increase patient satisfaction and retention as your practice costs decline.

Benchmark Solutions offers a comprehensive telemedicine platform so you can focus on the details of delivering virtual care to patients. The telemedicine solution we provide fully integrates with Benchmark EHR.

Doing so enables you to offer virtual visits while cutting down on the need for a range of in-office services, from utilities to front desk staff. Instead of needing to expand your physical space, you can do more with less.

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