Why clinics should evaluate telehealth systems
With all the advances telehealth has helped clinics reach, it is evident that telehealth has had a huge impact. While it has been positively impacting clinics, there are still concerns that new clinics have which hinders them from implementing telehealth. Many of these concerns make them wonder if a telehealth system will actually benefit them. To prevent this, clinics need to find a way to evaluate the performance of an implemented telehealth system. This ensures the clinic knows that the system they have implemented is beneficial and whether they should continue using it.
How to evaluate your telehealth system
To truly evaluate how a telehealth system is performing, there are multiple factors that need assessment:
- Firstly, a clinic should evaluate accessibility. To evaluate accessibility, the clinic should keep count of how many people are utilizing the telehealth services. Then, they should compare that number to the number of patients that were utilizing the clinic’s services prior to when telehealth services were implemented into the clinic.
- Furthermore, a clinic should evaluate the financial impact. Specifically, they should measure the return on investment. This will let them know if the implementation of these services are actually providing them with a high return and whether it is worth it to keep going with these services.
- Finally, it is important for the clinic to monitor the patient’s overall experience. While a service may provide the clinic with gains at first, it is essential to know whether the patients are actually fond of these services. If patients are satisfied with the services, they will continue to use them and recommend the clinic to others. However, if unsatisfied, the clinic may lose customers and negative reviews may occur. Evaluating patient satisfaction is essential and it is easy as it can be done through optional questionnaires and surveys.
There’s many more factors that clinics can use to evaluate their telehealth system’s performance, but these are the big three that clinics should focus on.
How Porton Health will ensure needs are met
Porton Health provides clinics with services that ensure they meet these requirements. Our MeetApp ensures that patients have easy access to the systems and that they do not need to have any additional downloads. Furthermore, the MeetApp allows patients and providers to send files during their appointment, and providers can easily send an optional survey to help evaluate patient satisfaction. Alongside those factors, Porton Health has low costs, and unlike many other competitors, clinics only need to pay for features they want and do not have to stick to strict packages.
To learn more about our apps, email us at connect@portonhealth.com.
References
Maeder, A. J., Wilson, L. S. (2016). Evaluating Telehealth Interventions. NCBI. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK481616/.
Rural Health Information Hub. (2020). Evaluation Measures for Telehealth Programs. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/telehealth/5/evaluation-measures.