Pain management is a critical component of chronic care. For a physician, having to monitor how your patients are doing with their medications and quality of life can be time-consuming. And for patients in pain—especially those with mobility issues—getting to the office on a regular basis can be difficult.
Telehealth allows you to access your patients’ data and the patients themselves remotely in real-time. By having constant access to the patient’s data, chronic care routine, and personal feedback, you can better monitor their progress and adjust their treatment plan as needed. This is a huge boon for patients and physicians alike. Better, faster care for improved outcomes.
Let's take a look at how telehealth can help your pain management patients.
Improved Access Beyond the Pandemic
Though the COVID-19 pandemic has made remote visits more important and necessary, it's clear that virtual healthcare is here to stay. The improved infrastructure that was built out of the necessity of social distancing is making life easier for chronic pain patients. Telehealth delivers reduced commutes, meaning less time spent traveling, and less pain associated with seeing their physician—these are all hugely beneficial.
Access is better not only for patients with decreased mobility but for those who live at distance from their provider. Rural patients have greater access to quality healthcare than ever before, thanks to virtual visits delivered using telehealth technology.
Better Pain Management Compliance
By communicating in real-time with your patients, you can address medicinal or therapeutic needs without days or weeks of downtime between visits. This means you can adjust medicine or rehab with a chat online versus planning a visit and seeing them in-office. When patients can speak with their doctors and get adjustments to their treatment plan, they're more likely to stay compliant. If the changes aren't working to manage chronic conditions or chronic pain, virtual visits allow for treatment plan modifications much faster than in-person visits.
Being able to pivot on treatment faster means better outcomes and less stress on you and the patient.
Faster Intake & Less Time Wasted
Telehealth allows your patients to update their records with pertinent information via virtual intake forms. This can be done prior to their scheduled appointment or updated at any time between appointments and cuts down on waiting. If you have your patients' information several days before their visit, then you can spend less time on intake and more time on diagnosis and speaking with them.
Many patients prefer the online intake method to filling out forms in the office. This alone saves your staff and your clients headaches and frustration of extra time wasted each appointment.
Improved Access to Therapists & Specialists
Often your chronic pain patients will have other comorbidities that require specialists to assist. Beyond that, therapy can be involved, and getting referrals can be time-consuming and difficult, particularly when dealing with insurance. A robust telehealth network makes interfacing between you, your patients, the payer, and specialists/therapy much easier.
By reducing the time between referral and actually seeing their specialist or therapist, your patients will see less anxiety and better treatment outcomes.
Easier Communication
Being able to speak meaningfully the same day a patient reaches out is a huge step in the right direction. When patients have to call and leave messages with the nurse, only to miss calls later and have to call back, they get frustrated. Particularly for someone who needs their treatment plan changed, prescription refills, or who is experiencing a higher level of pain than normal, faster communication is necessary and available using telehealth.
Telehealth opens up new avenues of communication, via text, chat, or virtual visits. This dramatically reduces patient stress and anxiety and reduces the necessity of formal, long visits. For many chronic care patients who have a condition that weakens their immune system, simply being able to avoid a crowded waiting room is reason enough to engage their physician using telehealth.
Embracing the Telehealth Revolution
The pandemic made us realize how important virtual health care really is, and for pain management patients, it can be life-changing. From reducing the amount of commuting time and anxiety, to simply making visits quicker and easier, virtual visits are the future.
ViTel has created a platform that connects patients, providers, payers, specialists, and every other aspect of the medical care continuum like never before. Remote visits allow for easier access, better communication, better compliance, and happier patients. For you, telehealth means better patient outcomes, less paperwork, more clients, and, of course, happier patients.
If you're considering expanding your practice into the virtual sphere, or if you want to improve your current telehealth practice, contact us for a demo. ViTel is here to help you create a telemedicine practice that serves you and your patients in an ever-changing world.
