What Telehealth Features Do Patients Value Most? Survey Results

During the rise of the Pandemic, people suffered and in-person health consultation has become more risky. Most people prefer telemedicine services such as video calls, phone calls, messaging, and other technologies as a solution to bring healthcare convenience to home.

Based on a 1734 patient survey, 57% of patients experience the best services as the traditional way of health consultation. 32% said they would rather get medical care through telehealth than go to a healthcare facility in person. 

Only 1% of patients experience worse than the traditional in-person visits. In summary, over 95% of patients are satisfied with the convenience and accessibility telehealth provides.

What makes individuals prefer telehealth services? This blog post shares the top telehealth features that patients value and benefit from the most.

What is Telehealth and why has it become more popular in the Healthcare Industry?

Telehealth is a healthcare technology that refers to using telecommunication technologies such as video conferencing, messaging, phone calls, and others for health consultation. This healthcare technology is rapidly growing and evolving, changing the way millions of individuals receive healthcare. 

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the traditional method of healthcare has become scarier for patients, especially for patients in rural areas who have limited transportation and other barriers. 

Switching to Telehealth is cost-effective and convenient for patients. Here are the factors that made Telehealth technology more popular:

• Cost-effectiveness: Patients can save costs associated with in-person visits and providers can cut down on facility maintenance costs.
• Continuity of healthcare: Telehealth allows patients and providers to stay connected for ongoing care, medication management, and monitoring of health vitals, especially benefits for patients with chronic conditions.
• Better Accessibility: Patients have better access to medical records, lab test results, prescriptions, and specialists for regular check-ups.
• Convenience: With smartphones and internet connectivity, patients can consult their healthcare providers and care teams for health consultations without stepping out of their homes.

These 4 major factors made telehealth technology so popular. Offering convenience at home, cost-effective healthcare services and accessibility to quality healthcare significantly meet the rising demands and needs of individuals.

Related: Telehealth for Mental Health: How Virtual Visits Can Expand Access to Therapy

Top Telehealth Features Patients Value Most

Telehealth has vast features that benefit providers, patients, and caregivers as well. But based on the survey, these are the top 5 features of Telehealth that patients find more valuable.

1. Remote Patient Monitoring Program

Remote Patient Monitoring Program – a technology that enables patients to track health vitals at home. There are times when patients used to visit healthcare facilities in person just to check temperatures. 

Switching to RPM technology, helps the patients to check temperature or any health vitals at home. Think of you need to check vitals like temperature. 

Using the thermometer, a RPM device, you can easily check body temperature. Moreover, you can instantly share vitals with providers using telehealth platforms, promoting instant healthcare. Most patients find remote patient monitoring programs to use full telehealth features.

2. Appointment Scheduling

Patients feel that appointment scheduling features are one of the most valuable features of telehealth. This eliminates the need for patients to travel to healthcare facilities, and book appointments and also reduces wait times. 

With the help of the appointment feature in telehealth, patients can:

• Schedule appointments with their providers
• Choose a date and time at their convenience
• If any situation arises, patients can cancel appointments in no time

This appointment scheduling feature also helps providers to easily manage patient appointments. However, it also sends automatic alerts to patients for appointments, reducing no-shows and missed appointments.

3. Teleconsultation

According to research, 30% of patients said they’d be interested in teleconsultation. It’s a telehealth solution that uses communications channels to connect with providers for health consultation. 

Common channels used for teleconsultation are video conferencing, phone calls, messaging, and other communication technologies.

Some patients have had a better experience in teleconsultation while some patients feel the same quality of healthcare received as the traditional way. 

Patients can efficiently share any health vitals, ask questions, receive a medical diagnosis, and more. Teleconsultation shifts the way we send and receive health vitals to providers.

4. E-Prescription

E-prescribing is another valuable feature that patients feel is more valuable in telehealth technology. The ideal feature of e-prescribing is generating, sending, and receiving patients’ medication prescriptions electronically, with no errors.

Patients can receive medication prescriptions from providers via a telehealth platform. With the help of e-prescribing, providers, pharmacies, and patients can:

• Have complete patient medication histories
• No need to decode the provider’s eligible handwriting
• Reduce the risk of medication prescription errors
• E-rx refill requests are made easier by e-prescribing

Related: E-Prescribing 101: What It Is and Why It Matters

5. Billing and Payment

Patients feel billing and payment are more valuable as they allow them to pay medical bills conveniently from home, just by using a mobile. Providers can easily generate invoices and send them to patients via telehealth platforms right away.

Telehealth platforms can integrate with existing billing software and simplify code submission and claim processing. Patients can co-pay or pay full medical fees directly through the telehealth platform using secure options like credit cards or electronic wallets.

This feature can improve efficiency, transparency, and timely payments, making telehealth a smoother experience for patients as well as providers.

Potential Challenges and Actionable Solutions for Telehealth for Patients

1. Lack of Technological Knowledge

Most patients find it difficult to use telehealth because of technical barriers. Patients have a lack of technical knowledge of How to use smartphones, and devices, or limited internet connectivity has become a hurdle in utilizing telehealth for healthcare, especially for elderly patients.

Solution: Educating patients on How to use devices and telehealth platforms effectively to overcome this barrier. Or practice can explore other alternatives like telephonic consultations. Practices can connect with community organizations to expand internet connectivity.

2. Lack of Physical Examination

Telehealth solution lacks physical examination. For instance, certain health conditions need to be physically examined. Using telehealth, it is limited for providers to examine patients which leads to a lack of accurate diagnosis.

Solution: Healthcare providers can utilize remote patient monitoring devices to collect patients’ vital health signs remotely. For better examination, providers and patients can use high-quality video telecommunication channels for a clear view of patients’ condition for better diagnosis.

3. Lack of Regulations

A barrier to the expansion of telehealth is a lack of regulation. The lack of clarity on state-to-state licensing regulations confuses providers and prevents further adoption. Patients might not know about data security or the credentials of the provider.

Solution: Standard procedures are required to provide high-quality care, safeguard patient confidentiality, and offer clinicians the assurance they need to succeed in telehealth. 

Vozo Telehealth Solution

Telehealth offers significant benefits for both providers and patients. Leveraging the Vozo Telehealth and EHR Integration lets you create a more streamlined workflow for your healthcare practice. 

With a vast range of features, such as scheduling appointments, audio/video/text consultation, analytics & reporting, better access to care, etc, healthcare providers and patients can:

• Reach out to patients remotely, ensuring more flexibility around appointment times.
• Saves travel time for patients and makes it easier to fit appointments into busy schedules.
• Vozo Telehealth allows anonymity and ensures patients feel more comfortable opening up from the privacy of their home space rather than in-person therapist visits.
• This eliminates the transportation cost of getting to appointments.
• It also reduces overhead costs like rent and admin staff for therapists who can conduct remote sessions, and many insurance companies do cover teletherapy as well.
• Vozo Telehealth makes it easy to maintain regular appointments, especially for patients who travel frequently or move locations.
• Therapists and patients can connect through the telehealth platform from anywhere.

The Vozo Telehealth solution enables providers to reduce burdens and focus more on better patient outcomes remotely.

Reach out to Vozo and utilize cutting-edge telehealth solutions for better convenient quality healthcare.