The COVID-19 pandemic has forced healthcare providers and hospitals all around the world to shift to the Telemedicine EMR Software platform to offer remote care services to their patients. It looks as if the virtual care trend is here to stay even after the pandemic is over because of its benefits of convenience, ease, and effectiveness. Ambulatory care, primary care services, and ongoing patient monitoring can easily be conducted through telehealth sessions. However, healthcare professionals need to understand that the same telemedicine model and design won’t be effective for all patient populations as healthcare needs vary immensely.

The Importance of Telemedicine Software Design

The same telemedicine program cannot be implemented to treat all healthcare customers as rural populations, urban populations, millennia, and aged population groups have diverse healthcare needs that need to be fulfilled accordingly.

The telemedicine software platform not only connects doctors and patients through a video session but it includes various modules and services for healthcare providers to deliver their services using various interfaces and technology. As time passes, clinicians have learned that a one-size fit approach won’t work when it comes to offering healthcare services through the telehealth platform. To implement the most appropriate telemedicine software program for your practice it is important to understand the major difference among your patient populations by addressing the following questions,

  • Who is the healthcare user?
  • Where does the healthcare consumer reside?
  • What is their network access?

Questions that will lead you to the best Telemedicine Platform Design

  1. Who is my healthcare user? It is critical to understand the demographics of your different patient population groups to decide the best telemedicine program for them. For example, elder care differs from pediatric care services as the whole telehealth session needs to be formulated for the parents. When it comes to providing telemedicine care for elder population groups there might be a few challenges according to a  recent study by Harvard Business School. This is because they might have visual and hearing difficulties. For a virtual visit, doctors need to train elder patient groups and give them the right devices so they can effectively communicate with their healthcare provider. Telemedicine sessions are appropriate for patients with mental health conditions as they can receive prompt therapy and can talk out with their therapist about anxiety and depression.
  2. Where does your patient population live? Healthcare organizations can’t simply assume that the patient population lives in urban areas. Always have quick access to a stable Wi-Fi network round the clock and own a smartphone. Lower-income patient populations living in rural areas lack the availability of internet connectivity and rely on government programs to improve access to care. For example, the FCC’s telemedicine program has given $200 million grants to low population groups so they can access remote care services with their providers during the pandemic.
  3. What type of device and network access do they have? The effectiveness of telehealth sessions is greatly dependent upon a stable and fast internet connection from both the provider’s and patient’s end. Some patients might be using 4G or 3G network services on their devices which can have an impact on the quality of the virtual session. It has become a challenge for EMR software vendors to handle network drops and create a seamless patient experience with the differences in the quality of network access.

Going ahead with the right telemedicine model

Once providers have answered these queries they can offer better care services to different patient population groups as they know their varying healthcare needs. It is critical that all the stakeholders in the healthcare sector work unanimously to make telemedicine work for everyone with minimum barriers. The telemedicine software platform is crucial to provide diagnosis and treatment to patients and also keep everyone safe from catching the virus. Healthcare professionals should invest in a good telemedicine EMR Software system that is scalable and offers the right functionality.