Toth Chiropractic Now Using Telehealth to Help Care for Patients

As work from home becomes the new norm, more people than ever are expected to develop back problems. We have started offering telehealth sessions to uphold our responsibility of delivering quality patient care when it matters the most.

We use a range of electronic information and telecommunication technologies to deliver health-related services and information that support health education and patient care. Through this initiative, we aim to help our patients stay on top of their health while following social distancing norms.

Different Forms Telecommunication Technologies Can Take

Telecommunication technologies can take any of these forms:

Store-and-Forward: In store-and-forward, there is no real-time communication between the sender and the receiver. A patient can use this mode to transmit medical data to their physician or practitioner for later review. For instance, a patient can take a picture of a (suspicious) mole and send it to their dermatologist (without having real-time interaction with the professional).
Remote Patient Monitoring: In this form, different technologies are used to monitor a patient’s health remotely. Typical applications include wearable devices (that collect and transmit data), home-based remote monitoring devices (that detect changes in activities due to slips and falls), and web-based or mobile apps (that enable a patient to upload data).
Live Video Conferencing: Two popular applications are – pre-op prep or follow-up between the patient (and/or their family) and the care team.

Why Telehealth?

Here are some benefits of telehealth:

Improved Patient Engagement

At Toth Chiropractic, we encourage and motivate our patients to take charge of their health. We see ourselves as facilitators and caretakers. Telehealth allows us to teach patients the fundamentals of self-care.

We leverage technology to demonstrate correct postures and educate patients on lifestyle choices that increase their risk of back pain. We teach patients how to care for themselves between visits. Our motive is to improve patient outcomes.

Expands Access to Care

Thanks to our poor lifestyle choices, the number of people with back problems is increasing with each passing year. The need for trained chiropractors is greater than ever before.

At Toth Chiropractic, our biggest frustration is not being able to touch more lives. Telehealth allows us to maximize our outreach to expand access to care.

Health outcomes improve with patient’s better access to healthcare. We plan to use telehealth to reach rural patients and those outside the traditional care delivery systems.

Savings

When a patient is able to interact with their care team remotely, they save both time and money. On average, a patient spends a little over two hours to consult their doctor in-person. The average telemedicine visit time, on the other hand, is just 16 minutes.

Additionally, there are several costs associated with seeing a doctor in-person. You may, for instance, have to pay for gas, extra meals out, and parking. Patients who travel to other cities to visit their doctors may have to stay at a hotel.

A study found that patients who use telehealth clinical services save an average of $100 per visit.

Reduced Patient No-shows

Patient no-shows is a common concern for doctors. Patients residing in remote locations frequently miss their sessions as traveling to their doctor’s clinic at regular intervals is not feasible for them. A patient using telehealth services does not have to travel to their doctor’s clinic. Instead, the professional comes to them.

Recently, Becker’s released a case study on a Nebraska Children’s Hospital. The case study found that despite having state-of-the-art facilities, the hospital struggled with frequent no-shows.

Soon, no-shows became a significant revenue cost center for the hospital, and the quality of patient care also declined. It was found that the hospital’s rural patients had to drive for several miles to reach the facility. Many rural patients were unable to travel frequently to the hospital, which resulted in the rise of the number of patient no-shows.

To address the problem, the hospital embraced telehealth. This resulted in a decline in no-show rates by 50 percent.

Enhances Healthcare Quality

Telehealth can drastically improve healthcare quality, particularly in rural settings, where ensuring patient access to healthcare is a major challenge. It can limit excessive resource utilization by allowing clinicians to intervene before things go from bad to worse.

Telemonitoring can be used by physicians to track their patients’ health and help them stay healthy at home, thereby preventing unnecessary hospital admissions and ER visits. Patients do not have to travel long distances to visit their physicians.

Telehealth is a win-win for doctors as well as patients. While patients have the convenience of consulting their doctors from the comfort of their homes, doctors using the technology save time and can see more patients in a day.

Leads to Higher Patient Satisfaction Levels

Telehealth allows doctors to provide on-demand healthcare, something that is very difficult in a traditional setting. Patients get customized care without leaving their houses. Telehealth enables faster care delivery.

Doctors are able to track their patients’ condition and can intervene before things get out of hand. When they get customized care, patients feel that they are their doctors’ priority.

Toth Chiropractic is committed to delivering quality health services. Dr. Douglas Toth is known for his empathic attitude as a chiropractor in Santa Rosa. He has dedicated his life to helping his patients break the vicious cycle of pain. To learn more, call us at (707) 526-1390.