I’ve long used the rollout of telehealth as an “excuse” to redesign the delivery of healthcare - a kind of Trojan Horse. Telehealth for me is about “enabling the delivery or extraordinary care”. Excellent telehealth is optimized for clinicians and for patients alike.
As we are rethinking all aspects of care delivery in a remote environment, we have a unique opportunity to do it differently. And designing and declaring and delivering on a “Patient Bill of Rights” for Virtual Care is an excellent starting point.
Patient Bill of Rights for Virtual Care
So what would a sample bill of rights look like? Here’s an example
As a patient receiving virtual care:
§1 You have the right to be adequately prepared for your virtual care visit. This includes assistance with the technology, with connectivity, and with the processes for preparing for the virtual care visit.
§2 You have the right for a medically appropriate pre-visit process, that ensures that all the pertinent information (e.g., your primary health concern (no, it’s not a “chief complaint”), your vital signs, your current medication, etc.) are captured and shared with your physician.
§3 You have the right for the clinician to give you their undivided attention, including a highly professional appearance, an appropriate background with no background noise, reliable technology, etc.
§4 You have the right to be adequately taken care of after the visit, including the receipt of a visit summary, support with filling medications, scheduling follow up appointments, scheduling referral appointments, or assisting with scheduling lab tests.
§5 You have the right to upfront transparency of cost, i.e., clarity on deductibles or out of pocket expenses PRIOR to scheduling the
Most of these rights should resonate with your organization and most likely were addresses appropriately in an in-person environment. Somehow some organization, though, may have lost focus on these when moving to virtual care.
Implementing the Bill of Patient Rights
Telehealth is definitely here to stay and if you don’t offer a great experience, dozens of “online only” startups are targeting “your” patients to offer a more convenient, more pleasant experience.
- Design all workflows to optimize the patient experience for satisfying the patient’s rights.
- Select and configure all technologies to meet the
needs of the patients, especially around connectivity and ease of use.
- Provide appropriate and adequate support for patients, e.g., by using a Telehealth Pre-Check or a TeleRooming process.
- Continuously improve the service by periodically collecting and acting on patients’ feedback.
- Co-design the experience with patients, and do not hesitate to
iterate the processes multiple times, based on feedback and patient focus groups.
It is important to remember, though, that while focusing on the patient experience is necessary, it is not sufficient by itself. The primary driver of patient satisfaction is, surprisingly, not the technology or the workflows.
The primary driver for patient satisfaction is how the clinician conducted the visit. Thus investing in physician satisfaction first is critical to achieve high patient satisfaction.