The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of our lives. Normalcy has been redefined and industries all around the world are adapting to it. The biggest change in the healthcare industry has without a doubt been the large scale implementation of telehealth and telemedicine services. Telemedicine has been of great benefit to the healthcare community in general. With the help of telemedicine hospitals and medical practices have been able to stay afloat and provide treatment to their patients. Telemedicine has helped providers to work from home. Telehealth systems have been extremely beneficial for providers across the world to collaborate on research and have equipped them with a more centralized platform to confer on research to find a cure for the Coronavirus. Both government and private healthcare providers & insurers recognise the obvious benefits telemedicine platforms provide and have actively encouraged people to adopt it.
But, one of the initial conundrums that is plaguing the providers and individual medical practices while implementing telemedicine is why they need to invest in a dedicated telemedicine platforms, when they can pretty much perform the same functions, using any of the video based chat applications and softwares that are available for free.
The first image to pop in our heads when we think about telemedicine is an image of a doctor on our PDAs screen discussing and treating us. A screen that looks very much similar to Skype/FaceTime. But that is not how it works or how it should be implemented.
You need a dedicated system/platform for telemedicine and here’s why :
Video Based Chat Applications Are Not HIPAA Compliant
The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act (HIPAA), is the gospel by which a patient’s confidentiality is maintained. It is a US law designed to provide privacy standards to protect patients’ medical records and other health information provided to health plans, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. Failure to abide by the standards of HIPAA, a provider can lose their license to practice and can potentially face imprisonment. Not to mention insurers do not reimburse providers that perform treatment on platforms that are not HIPAA compliant. What all of this basically means is that the platform via which a telemedicine practice is established need to be absolutely secure without any chance of data corruption or data loss, and video chat based applications do not guarantee that.
What you need is a telemedicine platform that can establish the requisite security, which for now can be established if the telemedicine system can integrate with your current Electronic Health/Medical Record system (EHR/EMR).
BAA Is Mandatory
The Business Associate’s Agreement (BAA), is a hybrid contractual and regulatory instrument, meaning they both satisfy HIPAA regulatory requirements and create liability between the parties. Like most contracts, if one party violates the agreement, the other party may have remedies. Unlike most contracts, if a BAA isn’t in place, isn’t complete, or is violated, both parties may be in trouble with the federal government. What all of this means is that, BAA determines if your practice is a legal business. BAA also enumerates the how, where and what of the data being stored. Everything from how the data was collected, to how it is being used, to its storage and accessibility are all determined and subject to the review of BAA. BAA certifies that the medical information was stored and shared with another healthcare entity in a HIPAA compliant manner.
The BAA does not just certify that the healthcare entity is HIPAA compliant, but it also protects parties involved from liabilities after being certified. This is one of the most important reasons to get a properly certified platform.
Scheduling Conflicts Can Be Avoided
The only way to ensure that all the patients are properly addressed and treated, is by having a proper scheduler application. This service is absolutely not covered by any of the video based chat applications in the market. Even if they come up with one, it will be one which does not protect the patients confidentiality. So you need a proper smart scheduler, one that can sort your patients prioritizing on urgency and risk factor. If your system does not come with a scheduler, it should at the very least, be able to integrate seamlessly with your current scheduler.
A well placed scheduler can do so much more than just manage patients. It can aid in allocating resources in a much more efficient way, it can provide the perfect system for patiently engaging. On the whole it optimizes your telemedicine practice and ensures that the practice functions efficiently.
Appointment Management
Appointment management is extremely important for any sort of medical practice. Only a dedicated telemedicine platform can provide you with the right appointment tools that are designed to support your medical practice.
A well placed appointment manager can aid in ensuring that every patient is being treated and that your resources are being utilized effectively. A patient’s eligibility is verified when the appointments are set, this means that the manager should be able to integrate your telemedicine platform with your patient documents and payor systems. All of this can only be made available only if you invest in an independent telemedicine platform.
Secure Payment Options
If you use any of the video chat based applications, then you won’t be able to make sure that your collections are in order or more importantly, that you have established a secure payment option for your patients.
A telemedicine platform can inform your patient beforehand of the consultation expense, so they are aware of it and it can be made before the services are rendered by the providers. Other out-of-pocket expenses can also be collected in this manner. This would ensure that the collections are done securely and in an efficient manner, without causing any hassle.
Telemedicine practice is a great way to connect with your patients, it saves time, resources and is a great way to ensure your patients are taken care of while your business continues to adapt to the future and thrives. But telemedicine is only effective if it’s established properly and legally. So invest in a proper dedicated telemedicine system and also ensure that the platform you choose, is the right one.
Our clients can attest to the fact that we @BillingParadise, have the one of the most efficient and compliant telemedicine platforms. We don’t just stop our services at equipping you with a platform. We can provide telemedicine training if required, you will also have access to our AAPC/CPC.AHIMA/CCS credentialed coders and highly skilled medical billers. You will also be enabled with complete telemedicine IT support and end-to-end RCM support.
