What's the best way to leverage endocrinology telehealth?

Endocrinologists see a variety of patients. They understand that patient needs are different today than they once were. With the introduction of technology and endocrinology telehealth into the medical industry, patients and practices both require different things from a doctor's visit than when everything was run with paper charts.

One increasing request to leverage technology is for endocrinology practices to offer telehealth visits in place of in-person visits when possible.

Some specialties, however, can be reluctant to add telemedicine to their practice because they believe if they’re not primary care, they can't use it However, almost every type of medical practice can benefit from offering telehealth options. Endocrinology often involves patient monitoring and periodic check-ins to see if a care plan is working as intended. 

Endocrinology telehealth saves time and reduces the number of workdays patients miss by limiting the need to come into the office. This is especially true in the cases of bad weather.

What can be accomplished during endocrinology visits using telehealth?

Remote patient monitoring with endocrinology telehealth

Care plans are critical when working with patients with chronic conditions. Whether it's a thyroid issue, diabetes or something else, remote patient monitoring is something that can be easily accomplished via a telehealth visit. Some devices allow for practices to log directly into the device the patient uses to collect data while others require the patient report their test results.

This can be cumbersome for the patient if it requires them periodically coming into the office while monitoring their condition. With the use of telehealth, providers can take short video calls with their patients to discuss their data. By checking in with patients for twenty minutes a month via telehealth visits can keep your patient on their care plan and make sure they’re managing their condition. That twenty minutes worth of check-ins, broken down to five-minute video calls, is a billable event for your practice.

Check in with your endocrinology patients

Checking in with patients, especially during medication switches, is imperative to improving their overall health. Especially during the beginning stages of a care plan, it’s important to see how patients are progressing. With the use of telehealth visits, it’s easier to keep patients on those care plans with frequent visits if they’re not required to come into the office every time–especially when they have monitoring devices that can be accessed via networks.

Telehealth visits give you the opportunity to discuss results with your patients in a quick and easy way. This is also true for addressing lab results. In place of requiring a patient to come in, providers can discuss these results over a video call. Patients are no longer required to come in to have these conversations–why require them to do so? Especially with shorter visits, providers can have more of them, checking in with more patients.

In some cases, patients require getting surgery to improve their condition. Surgical care itself can benefit from leveraging telehealth, and Endocrinologists can benefit in similar ways. For example, if a patient gets their thyroid removed, their treatment plan will change. Perhaps their medication dosage needs to be changed as their body adjusts post-surgery or new complaints arise. With the use of telehealth for quick check-ins, these complaints can be dealt with immediately. For some post-op patients, traveling can be difficult, making those virtual visits ideal.

Telehealth is quickly becoming a mainstay in how practices treat their patients. With patients increasingly looking for easier ways to complete things on their to-do list, telehealth is high on their want list when finding providers. Endocrinologists can use virtual visits to check in on patients, monitor their patients remotely, and make adjustments in patient care plans easily.