For modern companies in any industry to stay competitive, innovating your business is crucial. Even in the medical industry, it is vital that healthcare providers pursue innovation in medicine to ensure that they can provide their patients with the most optimal care. But, while innovation can pay off, it can also be highly expensive to achieve. Still, there are cost-effective ways that healthcare providers can innovate their practices, enabling them to offer state-of-the-art care and treatment without investing all they have.
1. Focus on Tools That Improve the Patient Experience
As a healthcare provider, your first priority should always be to deliver a positive patient experience. The tools used within a practice can make or break the patient experience. Medical tools can simplify the healthcare process, making it more efficient and convenient - or more challenging and frustrating. For this reason, adopting the right tools in your practice is crucial and a worthy investment to achieve innovation.
Telemedicine platforms are one of the most cost-efficient and beneficial tools that healthcare providers can implement in their practice. Telemedicine allows patients and providers to interact virtually, enabling remote healthcare interactions and visits. In addition to virtual visits, patients can also view their medical files and images, access healthcare information, and find other specialists for consultations through a telemedicine platform.
As medicine becomes more accessible and convenient, patients can receive the care they need exactly when needed. Patients will no longer have to schedule visits months in advance, wait in waiting rooms or lines, or commute to see a specialist. As a result, the patient experience becomes entirely about the value of their care and interaction with their provider.
2. Look for Technology That Will Help You Grow
Beyond cultivating a positive patient experience, ensuring the longevity of your practice is critical. Adopting new innovations is an excellent method of future-proofing your practice while growing it by acquiring new patients and offering specialized services. Fortunately, the same telemedicine platform that can improve the patient experience can also help you grow your practice.
Telemedicine serves as a bridge between patients and providers, and even physicians with other specialists and experts. Traditionally, providers were limited to treating only the patients within their immediate geographic region as they could only meet in person. Today, with the right telemedicine platform, healthcare providers can connect with patients outside of their immediate geographic region. As a result, providers can acquire more patients, especially those searching for specific services and specialists. Not only do patients get the care they need at their convenience, but providers can expand their practice and reach of healthcare services.
3. Prioritize Collaboration Among Healthcare Providers
In addition to exposing your practice to a broader pool of patients, telemedicine also opens your practice up to other physicians and specialists. A significant aspect of treating and diagnosing patients requires collaborating with other medical professionals, which can be challenging and time-consuming if they are not located within your practice. The specialist you need could be out-of-office or live in a different time zone, making them hard to reach. For these reasons, it is common for it to take days or weeks to obtain a second opinion, delaying patient care significantly.
Fortunately, with telemedicine, this is no longer the case. Healthcare providers can connect through their telemedicine platform, enabling them to collaborate with other providers, no matter their location. As a result, it becomes significantly faster and easier to obtain second opinions, discuss diagnoses, and network virtually. As a result, both providers can expand their practice and provide their patients enhanced care by sharing knowledge and resources.
While traditionally, healthcare practices may have seen each other as competitors, but today, they can work together to improve patient care. Providers can share resources and knowledge with one another, ensuring that patients receive the care they need. If one practice has access to a machine or a specific specialist, that resource can be shared across the globe - improving healthcare for all involved.
4. Don't Ignore Cybersecurity
New technology and tools can lead to incredible innovation that improves your practice. That being said, as technology advances, so does the risks of a breach or hacking. As medical practices continue to digitize their operations, they open themselves up to the risk of compromising sensitive medical data. For this reason, it is essential that practices implement a telemedicine platform with strong cybersecurity practices.
Considering cybersecurity while seeking innovation is essential for a variety of reasons. In addition to protecting private patient medical information, it could cost your practice significantly if a cyberattack occurs - to the point of financial ruin. Breaches are expensive, and resolving them is even more so. In order to maintain the trust of your patients and avoid the cost of recovering from a breach, you must consider cybersecurity when innovating your practice.
Thankfully, while telemedicine may seem like a significant cybersecurity risk, most platforms prioritize security. With a secure database and robust security measures in place, healthcare providers can operate within their telemedicine platform with the confidence that all data is protected.
5. Build on What You Already Have
There is a common misconception that innovation requires a complete upheaval of all current technologies. But, while innovation typically involves some kind of technological adoption, healthcare practices don't need to start from scratch. Starting from nothing would be a significant investment - one that most practices don't have. Instead, you can innovate your practice without breaking the bank by building on the technologies and tools you already have.
Adopting technology and tools compatible with the systems you already use is key to innovating on a budget. Not only is this a cost-effective method of innovation, but it also simplifies the integration process of the tools you adopt. For technology such as a telemedicine platform, it can be integrated with a practice’s preexisting PACS or EHR system.
The telemedicine application can be quickly and easily integrated at an affordable price, and physicians will not have to learn an entirely new system. Instead, the application will be ready to use quickly and easy to learn. Once integrated, providers and patients can immediately experience improvements in their interactions - at no significant investment of time or money to the practice.
Cost-Efficient Innovation Through Telemedicine
Innovation is crucial to maintaining a modern and competitive business. As a result of technology over the years, healthcare providers have been able to help patients in ways previously unimagined, and this should continue. By adopting innovative technologies such as telemedicine, physicians can provide care to patients from any location through cost-effective means.
Providers can offer high-quality care to their patients without significant spending by adopting every technology or hiring every specialist. Instead, providers can utilize resources from a global network of physicians, all devoted to providing an enhanced level of patient care. Through the adoption of a telemedicine platform, providers can improve the patient experience, grow their practice, collaborate with peers, and keep data secure - on a budget.
Curious how other practices have beneffited from telemedicine? Download our case study!
