11/11/2020
In part 1 of the telehealth blog, we talked about some of the benefits of telehealth, as well as a few challenges to be aware of. We continue that conversation briefly in this blog, and in-depth in the downloadable resource, while beginning to look at how to go about optimizing your telehealth offering.

The Strategy
The first step in growing and optimizing digital services is to have a product strategy. This detailed strategy should speak to the value your telehealth offering will bring to the organization and how that value will be realized. While developing this strategy, it is important to account for strategic objectives the business may have and evaluate which areas are important to focus on, such as pricing or features. With this strategy in hand, teams can then begin building a product roadmap to define the details such as what systems need to be built, what processes need to be changed, and who needs to be involved while remaining in alignment.
The Technology
The next step in progressing the experience and operations of telehealth visits is ensuring the right technology solutions are in place. The market today is flooded with video products, but narrowing that list down to ones that integrate well with your existing tools, have strong vendor support, and are priced competitively will provide you with a much simpler list to evaluate. In this digital age, many consumers expect feature-rich, intuitive apps that provide simplicity. They expect to manage their lives with mobile devices. From email to social media, this trend expands to healthcare, which is where telehealth plays a vital role in offering this “control” to patients.
The Support
The last step is to facilitate and encourage the adoption of the new platform and processes. With change comes confusion so be sure to account for staff training and patient education early on in the launch phase. The key to success with a telehealth service is the growth in patient usage with a balance in new and return visits alike. To capture return visits, the service needs to be simple and easy to use; however, patients only get that experience if they know how to use the tool and have friendly and well-educated staff to answer questions along the way. Training staff to take proactive measures and quickly resolve patient problems can differentiate your healthcare system from the rest, so be sure your support plan has the human element for successful adoption.
Be sure to check out the downloadable resource above to help your teams think through the various components of taking your telehealth services to the next level.