The 2022 omnibus bill passed by Congress ensures that flexible health regulations and payment related to telehealth services implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be supported until at least the end of 2024, perhaps longer. This extension provides incentive for private health practices to carefully consider how to incorporate telemedicine into their practices and provide patients with virtual health care services on par with in-person services. Here’s what you need to know:
AMA Helps Private Medical Practitioners Keep Doors Open
The American Medical Association (AMA) considers telehealth to be critical to the future of health care and an indispensable component of the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians. The organization also has a mandate to remove unnecessary burdens. This will improve administrative efficiency among medical practitioners, which could be better spent treating their patients.
The AMA provides member resources to support private practitioners and help them integrate telehealth into their private practices. For example, the AMA Private Practice Simple Solutions is a series of four-week learning sessions that aims to help private health practitioners leverage telehealth to provide patients with the care they need virtually. The sessions closely follow guidelines outlined in the AMA Telehealth Implementation Playbook.
By joining the AMA, physicians gain access to these telehealth resources as well as other useful AMA Private Practice Simple Solutions resources that are available on demand. The four-week AMA Private Practice Simple Solutions learning sessions provide physicians and their staff with guidance in the following three areas:
1. Choosing a telehealth platform.
2. Designing virtual-ready workflows.
3. Engaging with patients effectively.
How to Choose a Telehealth Platform
In this session, physicians with private practices learn how to evaluate and select an appropriate virtual care platform. This presentation offers tips to help physicians partner with a telehealth vendor. Not only do telehealth vendors help practices adhere to the law, but also, the quality of both staff experience and patient care depends in large part upon the vendor you choose. These companies provide a practice with the support and guidance necessary throughout the implementation process. They also offer technical support to the physician and team whenever needed.
To partner with the right vendor, it is important that physicians in private practice do their homework. This includes doing background research on vendors, even if you currently use them, and developing criteria to evaluate telehealth vendors to assess whether their platform meets the practice’s needs. It is a good idea to arrange for a vendor to give a live or online demonstration to get an idea of how their products work and how simple or complex they are to use.
If possible, have telehealth care staff and patients test the platform before committing to a long-term contract. Private practitioners can also seek feedback from colleagues or medical organizations in which they hold membership regarding recommended telehealth products and vendors to provide case studies, feedback, or recommendations from existing clients.
How to Design Virtual-Ready Workflows
The telehealth workflow consists of multiple pieces that must all work in tandem. Scheduling an appointment for a patient; checking the patient in; setting up the virtual room; conducting the virtual visit with the patient; and attending to post-visit admin and billing all need to be considered when designing a virtual-ready workflow. The Private Practice Simple Solutions telehealth series includes a webinar that outlines how physicians can consider each of these pieces to design a productive workflow. It recommends striving for the following general goals when developing a workflow:
– Seek involvement from patients and the care team.
– Keep records of current and future workflow.
– Develop procedures to help determine when virtual visits are appropriate.
– Draw up a plan for scheduling, recording, and billing patients for telehealth consultations.
– Allocate an appropriate area within the medical offices for conducting telehealth visits.
How to Engage with Patients Effectively
The Private Practice Simple Solutions telehealth series also includes a webinar that helps private practice physicians improve their “bedside manners” by making the technology they use in telehealth visits user-friendly, discussing their expectations from telehealth care, and getting feedback from patients regarding their experience with using the telehealth platform, the quality of care they received, and the ease of use of the platform.
Physicians in private practice also learn how to show “digital empathy” with patients over a virtual platform. For example, a doctor can display empathy non-verbally by placing a hand over their heart, or they can mention emotions explicitly to help them connect with their patient. The AMA provides physicians in private practice all the support, resources, and tools they need to successfully incorporate telehealth into their practice while also learning how to empathetically engage with patients over a virtual platform.