How to Plan for and Profitably Operate Telehealth Services?

Despite the ease and popularity of telehealth, a big question remains: Is it possible to maintain the same profit margins with telehealth as with in-person visits? In general, at this point, yes. But several elements should be carefully considered when forecasting revenue and profitability with telehealth.

The use of telemedicine varies by physician specialty. Historically, radiologists, psychiatrists, and cardiologists showed the highest use. Today, primary care physicians are at the top of the list, along with other specialists like dermatologists, oncologists, and emergency physicians.

Insights:

Telehealth services can be a powerful pillar of value-based care, providing better access, easier coordination of care, smoother transitions in care, cost savings, and additional opportunities to increase provider payment. As with any business strategy, alignment among key stakeholders is important when setting up telemedicine services. Implementation of a successful telehealth system requires proper strategic planning using a set of necessary guidelines. Having the right technology is imperative to help prevent miscommunication and frustration. Profitability with telehealth should be carefully studied in a given context. The use of telemedicine and revenue margins varies by physician specialty but primary care providers are at the top of the list.

Opportunities:

Practitioners and hospitals need operational guidelines to provide them efficient triaging of patients’ concerns and medical conditions. Healthcare institutes are leveraging user-friendly and reliable technologies to carry out telehealth services efficiently and become more profitable by setting up practice management systems for telehealth. Providers may find that their EHRs and practice management systems (PMSs) are already set up for telehealth. If not, there are many other options for virtual communications to get started.