Advantages To Using Telehealth Services

The following are reasons patients prefer telehealth.

1. Improved access to providers. Patients have become more open to seeking medical care in general now that it is more readily available. Now they can visit providers from the comfort of their own homes.
2. Greater convenience and flexibility to schedule visits. The availability of appointments during workday hours makes telehealth an attractive alternative. Not having to attend in-office appointments means patients no longer must request time off from work or seek extra child or elder care.
3. Reduced financial burden. Having to attend in-office medical appointments meant patients also had to consider additional expenses such as tolls, parking, and gas. Now patients can avoid these expenses.
4. Reduced stress. Patients who were at risk of losing income from having to take time off from work or being absent altogether see substantial advantages with telehealth. Additionally, because patients no longer need to travel to in-person appointments, there is no need to rush, worry about traffic, or sit around waiting for appointments, which may also run late at times.
5. Schedule flexibility. During the pandemic, the number of in-office visits often was reduced to avoid potential exposure among patients. Telehealth sessions in between in-person visits helped to compensate for schedule lapses in a typical office day, and continue to do so.
6. More billable hours outside of “regular” hours. Providing telehealth services using an integrated, secure system also means that providers can remain on call after hours for sessions that are billable, but that do not require them to be in an office setting.
7. Reduced no-show rates. Since patients are now able to attend their appointments on their own terms, in schedules that align with their own daily activities, they are less likely to cancel last minute or not show up at all.
8. Better continuity of care and improved compliance with follow-up visits. Offering telehealth services means that follow-up appointments can be more easily planned. Providers are better able to check in with patients remotely to discuss laboratory test results for example, rather than having to travel between locations or asking patients to come back to the office.
9. Managing chronic conditions, post-hospitalization care, and medication management. Similarly, for the management of chronic conditions or for post-acute care and post hospitalizations, telehealth allows providers to safely attend to convalescent patients in the comfort of their own homes. This concept has also given rise to the hospital-at-home and post-acute care programs which, along with Chronic Care Management, are now part of the overarching value-based care system  managed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).