Rates of COVID-19 cases are on the rise in 29 states. Despite hopes that summer would bring a reprieve from coronavirus and give healthcare systems time to take a few deep breaths and prepare for the second wave in the fall, hospitals across the country are facing capacity constraints. Texas’ governor has issued an executive order cancelling all elective surgeries in the state’s largest cities to make room for more coronavirus-related hospitalizations.
While some hospitals are full of patients with COVID-19 complications and others are sitting mostly empty, nearly all of them have experienced a loss of revenue in large part due to a lack of ambulatory visits.
Telehealth use exploded during the coronavirus crisis as it became a lifeline between patients and providers. The widespread adoption of virtual care tools is undoubtedly a good thing, but both the short- and long-term outlook on turning telehealth visits into top-line revenue for systems is less clear.
An asynchronous telehealth platform that automates patient intake, clinical workflows, and administrative tasks, on the other hand, keeps that lifeline between patients and providers open while making each episode of care—regardless of the venue—more productive.
Whether it’s in-person, via video, on a phone call, or through store-and-forward care delivery, all care encounters require a fair amount of administrative work—charting, coding, preparing billing files, accessing and updating the EHR—that are repetitive and sap clinicians of time they could be spending at the top of their license (and generating revenue).
Those administrative tasks are also ripe for automation. In short, that means letting computers or software do the tasks that require repetition, precision, and consistency, freeing up humans to do what they are good at: problem solving, critical thinking, and engaging with other humans.
A virtual care platform that automates those burdensome, repetitive tasks can reduce a 20+ minute appointment to one that takes no more than two or three minutes. Those saved minutes, no matter the venue of care delivery (in person, video, asynchronously) means providers can deliver more episodes of revenue-generating care per shift and leaves them more time to spend with patients who have more complex conditions, generating even more revenue.
No matter which telehealth modality a healthcare system has deployed, a virtual care platform that automates clinical workflows complements existing care channels, making them all more efficient and efficacious.
To learn more about using your virtual front door and care automation to drive top-line revenue, download our white paper, From the Front Door to the Top Line.
