Why Healthcare Providers Need a Telehealth 2.0 Strategy

As the disruptive period of the pandemic comes to a close, healthcare institutions need to start thinking in a more systematic way about how to invest in telehealth and integrate these services into their practices in a way that improves quality of care over the long term.

Telehealth systems will need back-office support to run smoothly and ensure they don’t create new bottlenecks. Scheduling is a prime example. Physicians will always over-run their appointments, creating the challenge of how to manage online queues of patients.

Provider-support teams will need to become adept in assisting patients and running initial checks and examinations before handing them over to the professional provider.

While telehealth should be a cost-saving and revenue driver in the long term, the investments in training, hardware and software needed to make it work will impact the shorter-term fiscal picture and need to be carefully considered.