Telehealth

Home » Telehealth

More Than a Three-Room House

Imagine a two-room house whose occupants have outgrown it. They decide to solve the dilemma by tacking another room on the back. Great! The siding doesn't quite match - nor does the roof. Some of the existing old-growth trees had to be felled to make the new room fit, and when you're inside, you have to remember to step down and duck a bit as you enter the new room. But hey! The owners still have that extra room! If they decide to put their home on the market, they can advertise it as having three rooms.

Unfortunately, some EHRs are built like this.

Why Get an Integrated Product?

As a therapist, you can amass your digital tools one at a time or you can invest in a well-integrated bundled product. For example, let's say right now you're mostly looking for a video platform so you can do telehealth. There are companies that ONLY offer subscriptions to video platforms. But is that the best choice?

Depends.

For example, what happens if, after you sign up for your standalone video product, you realize that you also need a way to collect your fees from your telehealth clients. And maybe you need encrypted email so you can contact people in a way that's secure. Or maybe now you need HIPAA-compliant file storage, as your clients begin to send you documents via their new encrypted email. Or perhaps a way to schedule clients online. Or maybe a way to efile and also to send statements and receipts digitally. That's a LOT of tools and we're just getting started!

Doing Telehealth? You Need a Portal.

Think you're not doing telehealth? Think again. Although there's no one-size-fits-all definition that cuts across state and/or discipline lines, most agree that telehealth basically involves any electronic method you use to communicate with or about your clients. This can include common things like phones, email and electronic file storage, in addition to video sessions, which is what we typically think of with the term telehealth.