Ask Telehealth Vendors These Questions to Narrow Your Search for the Ideal Technology
Your list of potential telehealth vendors is long. There are many excellent options available on the market now, so how can you find the one with the right tools, services and budget to meet your needs?
After all, you’re concerned with outcomes and patient care, and maybe less focused on how the technology works. You want it to be easy to manage and access for providers within your health system, empowering them and their patients to use the tools available.
To help you kickstart your search for the best telemedicine technology, we’ve put together a list of 10 questions you should ask telemedicine vendors.
1. How Long Have You Been in Business?
The COVID-19 pandemic brought forth evidence that there is plenty of demand for providers offering the best telehealth services. With that has come many new vendors that have only been offering their technology for a few years.
Consider not just how long the company has been in business, but its affiliations and the reputation it has built in the industry no matter how long they’ve been around.
AMC Health has been in business since 2002. Our founder Nesim Bildirici is passionate about changing patient outcomes because he lost his father to chronic heart failure. Managing chronic illness should not be as hard as it is with all the tools and technology available today.
Bildirici’s model focuses on quality patient-centered care at an affordable price and at a distance to provide patients a better quality of life.
2. Is the Platform FDA Class II Cleared?
As more RPM companies enter the market, it is important to ensure that the platforms have FDA clearance.
AMC Health’s chronic and post-acute care remote management programs are powered by a FDA Class II cleared, clinically proven care management platform CareConsole® and advanced machine learning analytics.
3. Can You Tell Me About an Implementation That Was Similar to Ours?
This question will help you better understand who the company’s primary customer really is. Some telehealth vendors focus primarily on larger health systems, while others might price their products and design their services for smaller physician offices.
Additionally, how the service integrates with your electronic health records (EHR) system will be crucial. If the process of connecting the two is too complicated and will require ample time and money to implement, it might not be worth it for your organization.
AMC Health has experience integrating with several industry tools and software systems. Our team is skilled at working with medical providers that span all specialties and care types. For specific details on how our service will work with your existing software, schedule a demo to talk to our team.
4. What Kind of Customer Support Do You Offer?
Anything short of 24/7 tech support should make you drop that vendor from the list. The best telemedicine companies offer options for getting in touch and for escalating support requests when you need answers fast.
When caring for patients with chronic conditions, you need to know you’ll have access to the platform to monitor their wellbeing and ongoing care. Service disruptions can lead to setbacks in care and challenging experiences for patients.
AMC Health provides 24/7 support to ensure providers have access to the tools and resources when they need it. Call with urgent questions or send us an email to open a ticket.
5. Is All Communication Using Your Technology HIPAA-Compliant?
Given that telehealth focuses on medical care, you’d expect that all products are HIPAA-compliant. But that isn’t always the case. Some technology providers see an opportunity to repurpose their technology for another industry and don’t know how regulated healthcare is.
AMC Health is purpose-built for providing outstanding telehealth services. It is fully HIPAA-compliant without any changes or adjustments.
6. Do We Need to Acquire Special Devices, and Do Patients Need to Download a Special App?
When a telehealth service is easy to use, it doesn’t require special equipment outside of the laptops, tablets, or even smartphones providers already use.
Providers and patients can log into the AMC Health portal from any device with a website browser. If you or your patients want faster, easier access to the portal, you can download the AMCareAtHome app. The service integrates with blood pressure devices, pulse oximeters, thermometers, scales and more.
7. Can Patients Schedule Visits Through the Telehealth Platform?
Allowing patients to go from inputting data about how they’re feeling to scheduling a telehealth visit with their provider is important. They shouldn’t need to log out of the platform, go to the patient portal for your EHR and then request a visit. The experience should be seamless.
Patients can schedule telehealth visits using AMC Health. This makes it easier for them to manage their health and wellness all in one place.
8. What Differentiates You from Other Telehealth Vendors?
With so many options for telehealth technology, the vendor you’re considering should know what sets it apart from its competitors. Whether it’s the speed of customer service or unique services offered, the telehealth provider should have a good answer for this question.
Incredible patient outcomes have always been what we pride ourselves in at AMC Health. Providers who interact with their patients using our technology see a
9. Can We Customize the Platform to Meet Our Needs?
You manage a unique health system and want to set yourself apart from your competitors. So if you’re all using the same technology, how can you do that? The ability to customize telehealth tools and build upon the features available can be a great way to do that.
Or you might just want to add some custom branding to reassure patients they are in the right place. Our team understands this requirement and allows you to make the patient portal work for you. We can help you build out the platform with the tools and resources you want to provide or hide from patients based on your specialty or needs.
10. Do Patients Provide Consent Before Every Telehealth Visit?
Capturing consent for the provider to administer telehealth services is essential. Ideally, you want the prompt to show automatically when a patient begins a telehealth visit. But some platforms make this optional or allow you to set up consent on your own.
We know how vital consent is for telehealth providers. That’s why we’ve built it into our technology and document that consent for your records.
Want to see how AMC Health works? Schedule a free demo of the software to begin narrowing your vendor list to the best telehealth service providers.