We all got a crash course in telehealth a few years ago, but the jury was always out on whether it would stick around when it was no longer strictly necessary. It’s a polarising topic—some people love seeing patients remotely, others couldn’t get back to in-person appointments fast enough! Obviously, this varies a lot across professions—if the care that you give requires physical contact, then face to face is clearly your only option.
It’s also true that telehealth is a different kind of care to in-person. It’s therefore worth giving some thought as to how you can adapt your treatments to set your patients up for successful outcomes with telehealth (which might require some patient education).
That being said, in circumstances where telehealth is possible, giving your patients the choice to use it comes with some benefits for both them and you.
1. More convenient for your patients
This one almost goes without saying! Telehealth can drastically reduce how much an appointment eats into a patient’s busy day. Not having to factor in the extra time to travel to and from your practice automatically makes things so much easier for many people. The vast majority of people now have a smartphone that’s capable of joining a video call, which means it can be done from anywhere. If a patient can even attend their appointment from the comfort of their own home (or wherever they happen to be), they’re more likely to be able to integrate it with their other commitments like work or child-minding.
The world has changed to the point where many (if not most) things can now be done remotely—work, study, banking, grocery shopping etc.—and people have become more habituated to this over the years. In this sense, offering telehealth as an option also keeps you up to date with a trend that isn’t going away anytime soon!