As telehealth services become more widely available, patients gain access to faster care, reduced wait times, and lower costs. This provides many opportunities for improved customer service as the benefits of telehealth for patients encourage more people to use telehealth as a regular part of their healthcare.
What Is Telehealth Healthcare?
Telehealth relies on telecommunication technology to provide healthcare services. This service can be provided over computers, tablets, or smartphones.
Patients who use telehealth can chat with physicians or therapists on video calls. They can share information like their blood pressure with providers. Because these visits happen at a distance, telehealth helps patients who have difficulty making in-person office visits keep up with their physical and mental health.
The Growth of Telehealth During COVID
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown restrictions made it difficult for patients to see their healthcare providers in person. In response, Congress passed the CARES Act, which expanded Medicare’s telehealth coverage.
Medicare could now pay physicians for services offered via telehealth at in-office rates for all diagnoses. Physicians could also reduce or waive Medicare patient cost-sharing for services provided by telecommunications, including telehealth visits, virtual check-ins, and remote monitoring services.
This helped expand access to telehealth across the United States as telehealth visits became necessary. Doctors could also now provide telehealth services from home, including behavioral health services, making patient care more convenient.
The State of Telehealth Nows
Post-pandemic, telehealth is still in use. Patients now recognize the convenience and efficiency of virtual appointments from their homes or work. Meanwhile, providers can now pre screen patients for potential issues and determine who needs an in-person appointment. This keeps medical conditions from worsening while saving providers time and money.
Who Is Using Telemedicine Now?
Patients living in rural or isolated areas far away from healthcare centers benefit from telehealth visits. They can keep up with doctor visits without driving long distances to providers. Likewise, patients with mobility issues or conditions that make travel difficult can use telehealth as an alternative to in-person office visits.
An issue brief by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services, indicates that from April 2021 through August 2022, telehealth use was highest among patients covered by Medicaid and Medicare. Hispanic, African American, and Asian patients were most likely to use telehealth but favored audio-only telehealth visits over video-based telehealth.
Challenges of Telemedicine in Customer Support and Experience
Although telehealth offers many advantages, it also presents challenges. Patients and providers have experienced difficulties with:
• Technological barriers: Not everyone has access to the internet or telecommunications technology. Internet connections can also be unstable for both patients and providers, interfering with communications. Finally, not everyone is comfortable using tablets, smartphones, or laptops, making them unwilling or unable to use telehealth.
• Lack of personal interaction: While telehealth can replace some in-person visits, some patients still need to physically interact with their physicians because their medical conditions require personal examination or they’re more comfortable communicating in person.
• Difficulties in providing immediate support: Some health services cannot be provided through telehealth, including blood tests, X-rays, vaccinations, physical therapy, and surgery.
• Privacy: Certain personal and public Wi-Fi networks don’t provide adequate data security, which can prove problematic when patients share sensitive health information online.
The Benefits of Telehealth for Patients
Accessing healthcare through telehealth visits offers many benefits for patients, including:
Comfort and Convenience
Telehealth visits can be conducted from anywhere with telecommunication services, including your home or work. This saves time and makes doctor visits easier to schedule. Patients don’t need to worry about additional expenses, such as gas, tolls, parking fees, or childcare, that can come with in-person office visits.
Excellent Customer Service
Providers can offer patients better customer service via telehealth. Telehealth appointments can be more flexible than in-person visits and can even be offered during off hours to accommodate patients’ schedules.
Telehealth also enables doctors to spend less time moving from patient to patient, decreasing wait times and increasing efficiency. Receiving faster care on a convenient schedule improves patient satisfaction, increasing the likelihood of them showing up for their virtual appointments.
Chronic Condition Management
Patients with chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure can manage their conditions more conveniently with telehealth. Doctors can conduct follow-up appointments via video to see how patients respond to different treatments. Routine telehealth check-ins can also help determine whether or not a patient needs an in-person appointment.
Telehealth visits can also help patients learn about nutrition, fitness, and remote monitoring devices. And healthcare providers can explain test results virtually, reducing the need for regular in-person visits. Regular telehealth appointments can also help prevent chronic conditions from worsening.
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Benefits of Telehealth for Providers
Telehealth benefits aren’t limited to patients. Healthcare providers see many benefits from telehealth visits, including:
Improved Patient Outcomes
Some patients forget to make doctor appointments or cannot see their physicians regularly. Telehealth lets patients schedule more frequent visits, enabling doctors to monitor their conditions, spot problems before they become too serious, and help them manage their conditions.
Increased Patient Satisfaction
Telehealth makes it easier for patients to fit doctor visits into their schedules. Being able to consult with physicians from anywhere saves patients time and money. Patients can also avoid lengthy stays in the waiting room and encountering other potentially contagious patients. All this increases satisfaction with a provider’s customer service, leading to better provider-patient relations.
Greater Access to Healthcare
Telehealth improves healthcare accessibility for people living in rural and isolated areas. Rather than driving many miles to a clinic, these patients can keep up with their doctor visits online.
Likewise, telehealth grants greater access to healthcare for patients with mobility issues or illnesses that make in-person doctor visits difficult. Patients with anxiety, depression, or agoraphobia can find telehealth visits easier than meeting physically with a provider. All this expands the populations healthcare providers can serve, giving them greater access to patients.
Reduced Healthcare Costs
Interacting with patients virtually helps healthcare providers reduce the number of physical office spaces they need to maintain. Physicians who consult from home with patients via telehealth can save money on travel expenses. All this leads to a reduction in overhead costs for healthcare services. These cost savings can be passed on to patients, leading to increased customer satisfaction.
How Can Great Customer Experience Make Telehealth Better?
Telehealth after COVID has seen many improvements in customer experience (CX) solutions. Efforts are being made to improve telehealth technology and make it more convenient and user-friendly, increasing its benefits for patients and providers.
Key among these efforts are platforms with reliable technical support that provide more personalized care and patient communication. Patient feedback is used to identify areas for improvement, such as difficulty navigating a platform or accessing services. Doctors also need easy access to patient histories and records for optimal care.
Addressing telehealth’s limits is also important. Telehealth should be integrated with in-person care. This offers more flexibility for patients and access to healthcare services like blood tests that telehealth cannot provide.
Improving privacy and security measures for telehealth visits is vital. Patients share sensitive medical data during telehealth encounters, and showing users that providers can protect this information builds trust and confidence in telehealth services.
Addressing these factors enables patients to enjoy a more satisfying telehealth experience. This increases patient confidence in managing their health through telehealth appointments and makes telehealth more effective at providing healthcare services.
Telehealth for Patients and Providers
Post-pandemic, telehealth has grown in use among the general population and is now seen as a viable way of managing health conditions. Although technology and privacy concerns still exist and in-person visits are still necessary, the benefits of telehealth for providers and patients cannot be ignored.
Still, telehealth appointments need to become more user-friendly to encourage use. Better customer service — including scheduling flexibility and reduced wait times — is integral to telehealth CX. Likewise, doctors need to know how to engage effectively with patients to build confidence in telehealth and offer an effective healthcare experience.
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