What to look for in a telehealth vendor

Roland Therriault, president and executive vice president of sales at InSync Healthcare Solutions, says it’s important for a forward-thinking telehealth vendor to offer the following:

EHR Integration: Telehealth software should provide a seamless experience between patients and providers. The best solutions allow easy appointment scheduling and documentation of care during a patient visit to ease administrative burden. Otherwise, providers are forced to switch between platforms entering and reviewing information instead of concentrating on patient care.

Collaborative Care: Solutions that allow information exchange between stakeholders improve care delivery. When care team members can send and receive notes and videos, patients ultimately receive more coordinated, effective care.

Telehealth Medical Billing: There are many EHR platforms capable of providing or integrating with telehealth providers. However, the important question to ask is: How is telehealth billing handled? The best solutions automate the claims creation process when a visit begins and allow for denial management and batch rebilling.

Flexibility: Cookie-cutter telehealth solutions that don’t allow for customizations to address specific practice nuances should be marked off any list. Health care is complex, and no two practices are alike. A large provider organization will have access to resources that a small, specialty practice will not. Plus, the needs of a mental health provider are much different from those of a pediatrics practice. Telehealth solutions should be able to address these nuances.

Therriault suggests practices and health systems ask the following questions when choosing a vendor partner:

Can you provide a proven track record of successful implementations?

What implementation and support options do you provide?

How much of your budget is dedicated to ongoing research and development?

What is your pricing structure?

Can your solution integrate with my EHR and billing systems?

Does your solution allow providers to document during a session?

Can we customize the solution to fit our practice’s needs?

Is the telehealth solution HIPAA-compliant, and can it protect against emerging security threats?