Healthcare’s Digital Transformation: Delivering Virtual Care
Healthcare Triangle • Jul 08, 2020
The upheaval brought about by COVID-19 pushed care delivery toward telemedicine services. The volume of virtual visits is higher than ever before, making 2020 a big year for healthcare’s digital transformation. While virtual visits improve patient safety during the pandemic, virtual care offers greater opportunities to protect the health of patients and staff as well as improve engagement and satisfaction throughout the patient journey.
The Digital Front Door
Patients make decisions about service providers and access all kinds of services electronically, so why not healthcare? Traditional ways to find a provider, choose the right care setting, schedule an appointment, or get urgent care take many extra steps and result in unnecessary waiting. Sometimes, patients forgo care altogether. Create a digital front door that dramatically improves this experience by:
- Making it easy to find providers online through searchable directories.
- Guiding patients to the right care setting with virtual triage and symptom checkers.
- Opening online scheduling for new and established patients.
- Letting patients get urgent care quickly.
The Virtual Waiting Room
This spring, the pandemic finally forced changes to waiting rooms. Grouping patients together in for paperwork was not just inconvenient, it was potentially unsafe. A typical waiting room was miserable for patients and inefficient for staff who guide patients through dozens of steps to check in, complete forms and questionnaires, check out, and make payments. Time with a provider is shorter than time in the waiting room doing these tasks. Take the waiting room virtual, enhancing satisfaction and gaining efficiency by:
- Moving the check in process online.
- Putting EHR-integrated forms and questionnaires online.
- Making check out obsolete with online visit documentation and electronic payments.
The Virtual Exam Room
Virtual visits took off in early 2020! Many organizations used tools already at their disposal to allow patients and providers to meet via videoconference to protect their health and safety. Supplement videoconferencing so your organization’s virtual exam room can be a more effective way for your organization to provide care by:
- Getting information before the visit with online questionnaires and medication updates.
- Giving providers a complete picture including vitals using devices in the patient’s home.
- Transmitting orders for medications, labs, and other diagnostics electronically.
The Virtual Cashier’s Office
Cumbersome paper processes make everything take longer from getting a bill, to making payments, to taking advantage of financial help. Patients can more safely socially distance by not making payments in person, and you can improve patient satisfaction and collections long term by taking the functions of your cashier’s office virtual. Speed up your billing office processes and upgrade the patient experience by:
- Switching to paperless statements and making account balances available online.
- Accepting online payments from patients and guarantors.
- Making it easy for patients to set up payment plans or apply for financial assistance online.
Digital transformation of the patient experience can and should happen at every point of the patient journey. These are just four common parts of that journey that you can take to the next level quickly. Let me help you on your digital transformation with an assessment or roadmap that will allow you to offer more, groundbreaking virtual care.
For further discussion or immediate healthcare project-related assistance, drop an email to info@healthcaretriangle.com or schedule a consultation.
