Healthcare Services Growth

Telehealth has evolved from pandemic necessity to strategic competitive advantage. The practices now succeeding with virtual care aren't just offering video visits as a convenience. They're building comprehensive telehealth programs that drive patient satisfaction, expand geographic reach, and improve access while maintaining clinical quality and financial sustainability.

If you're looking to grow your telehealth services beyond basic video appointments, understanding how to design clinical workflows, select the right technology, market effectively, and navigate reimbursement is essential for building a program that supports your broader healthcare services growth model.

Telehealth Strategy Development

Building a successful telehealth program starts with strategic clarity about what you're trying to accomplish and which patient populations you're serving.

Use Case Identification

Not all clinical services translate equally well to virtual care. The most successful telehealth programs focus on use cases where virtual visits provide comparable or superior outcomes to in-person care.

High-Value Telehealth Use Cases:

Follow-Up Visits: Post-procedure check-ins, medication adjustments, and test result reviews often work better via telehealth through streamlined post-visit follow-up processes. Patients avoid travel and time off work for brief consultations that don't require physical examination.

Chronic Disease Management: Diabetes management, hypertension monitoring, and mental health care benefit from frequent touchpoints that telehealth makes practical. Rather than seeing patients quarterly in-office, you can check in monthly or even weekly virtually, supporting ongoing patient communication cadence strategies.

Urgent Care Concerns: Upper respiratory infections, rashes, urinary symptoms, and many other acute issues can be effectively triaged and often treated via telehealth, with in-person visits reserved for cases requiring examination or testing.

Mental Health Services: Therapy and psychiatry adapted seamlessly to telehealth, with many patients preferring the privacy and convenience of virtual sessions.

Specialist Consultations: For specialties facing long wait times, telehealth enables quicker access. Dermatology, endocrinology, and many other specialties successfully deliver initial consultations virtually.

The key is matching use cases to your specialty, patient population, and practice capabilities rather than trying to deliver all care virtually.

Patient Population Targeting

Different patient segments have varying telehealth adoption rates and preferences. Understanding who's most likely to engage helps focus your marketing and service design.

High Telehealth Affinity Groups:

Working professionals who value convenience and time savings
Parents of young children avoiding logistics of office visits
Chronic disease patients requiring frequent monitoring
Rural patients facing travel barriers to care
Tech-comfortable patients ages 25-65 across most demographics

Lower Telehealth Affinity Groups:

Seniors uncomfortable with technology (though this is changing)
Patients requiring frequent physical examinations
Those with complex multi-system conditions needing comprehensive assessment
Populations with limited internet access or digital literacy

Your ideal telehealth patient population likely differs from your ideal in-person population. That's not a problem—it's an opportunity to expand your addressable market.

Service Line Selection

Rather than offering telehealth across all services, many successful practices identify specific service lines to emphasize for virtual delivery:

Primary Care: Acute illness visits, medication refills, preventive care counseling, and chronic disease monitoring

Behavioral Health: Individual therapy, psychiatric medication management, couples counseling, and addiction support

Specialty Consultations: Initial evaluations that can proceed without physical examination, second opinions, and follow-up care

Urgent Care: After-hours symptom evaluation, triage, and treatment for non-emergency conditions

Focusing on specific service lines allows you to refine your processes, train staff effectively, and market with clarity about what patients can expect from your telehealth offering.

Hybrid Care Models

The most sophisticated telehealth programs integrate virtual and in-person care seamlessly, allowing patients to move fluidly between modalities based on clinical needs and personal preferences.

Common hybrid models include:

Initial In-Person, Follow-Up Virtual: Establish relationship and baseline with in-person visit, then maintain care virtually for routine follow-ups

Virtual Triage to In-Person Care: Use telehealth to quickly assess whether in-person care is needed, improving scheduling efficiency

Alternating Visits: For chronic disease management, alternate virtual check-ins with in-person visits for lab work and comprehensive assessment

Patient Choice: Let patients choose modality for each appointment based on their preferences and the visit purpose

The goal isn't replacing in-person care—it's adding virtual care as a complementary channel that enhances patient access and practice efficiency.

Platform and Technology

Your telehealth platform significantly impacts both patient experience and provider workflow. Selecting the right technology requires balancing ease of use, EHR integration, regulatory compliance, and cost.

Platform Selection Criteria

When evaluating telemedicine platform selection, prioritize these factors:

Ease of Use: Both patients and providers should be able to join visits with minimal clicks. Complex login processes and software downloads create friction that reduces adoption.

HIPAA Compliance: The platform must provide business associate agreements and meet all privacy and security requirements for healthcare communication.

EHR Integration: Seamless documentation workflow is critical. Standalone telehealth platforms that require duplicate charting create provider frustration.

Quality and Reliability: Video and audio quality must support clinical decision-making. Frequent disconnections or poor audiovisual quality undermine clinical effectiveness.

Mobile Accessibility: Patients increasingly prefer mobile access. Your platform should work well on smartphones and tablets, not just computers.

Scheduling Integration: Telehealth should integrate with your existing scheduling system rather than requiring separate appointment management.

Popular platforms like Doxy.me, Zoom for Healthcare, Doximity Dialer, and EHR-integrated solutions (Epic MyChart Video, Cerner Telehealth) each have strengths for different practice types and sizes.

EHR Integration Requirements

Tight integration between telehealth and your electronic health record eliminates duplicate documentation and creates seamless clinical workflow.

Key integration capabilities:

One-Click Launch: Providers should launch video visits directly from the patient's chart
Automatic Documentation: Visit notes should save directly to the EHR without copy-paste
Scheduling Visibility: Telehealth appointments should appear in your standard schedule view
Billing Integration: Virtual visit charges should flow to your billing system like in-person visits

If tight integration isn't available, at minimum ensure your telehealth platform allows easy copy-paste of encounter notes into your EHR.

Device and Equipment Needs

While telehealth requires less equipment than in-person care, certain investments improve the experience:

For Providers:

Quality webcam and microphone: Built-in laptop cameras often suffice, but external webcams with better resolution and microphones that reduce background noise improve communication
Adequate lighting: Position yourself facing a window or invest in a ring light to ensure patients can see you clearly
Neutral background: A professional background (real or virtual) maintains credibility
Reliable internet connection: Minimum 5 Mbps upload/download speeds; hardwired ethernet is more reliable than Wi-Fi

For Patients:

Clear instructions: Provide step-by-step guides for joining visits on different devices
Tech support: Have staff available to help patients troubleshoot connection issues
Alternative options: Maintain phone-only visit capability for patients who can't use video

Technical Support Systems

Even with user-friendly platforms, technical issues will arise. Build support systems including:

Pre-visit testing: Allow patients to test their setup before appointment time
Dedicated support line: Staff member available to troubleshoot during business hours
Backup communication: Phone numbers for both parties if video fails mid-visit
Provider training: Regular training ensures all providers can troubleshoot common issues

Clinical Workflow Design

Translating in-person care workflows to virtual environments requires thoughtful redesign to maintain clinical quality and provider efficiency.

Scheduling Optimization

Telehealth scheduling should account for the different time requirements and nature of virtual visits:

Visit Length Adjustment: Virtual visits often take less time than in-person (no rooming process, less small talk), but complex cases may take longer due to examination limitations. Many practices schedule telehealth visits in 15-20 minute slots versus 20-30 for in-person.

Buffer Time: Include 5-10 minute buffers between telehealth visits for documentation, technical issues, and visit overruns.

Same-Day Availability: Telehealth's efficiency makes it ideal for same-day appointments. Reserve slots for urgent issues to reduce emergency department utilization.

After-Hours Options: Consider offering evening or early morning telehealth slots that would be impractical for in-person care, expanding access for working patients.

Your broader schedule optimization strategy should integrate telehealth as a flexible tool for improving access.

Pre-Visit Preparation

Virtual visits benefit from more structured pre-visit preparation than in-person care:

Patient Instructions: Send clear guidance on joining the visit, what devices work best, and how to prepare (list medications, measure vital signs if applicable, have pharmacy information ready)

Vital Signs Collection: For chronic disease management, ask patients to measure and report blood pressure, weight, blood glucose, or other relevant metrics before the visit

Medication Reconciliation: Have patients list current medications in advance to streamline the visit

Technical Check: Encourage patients to test their connection 15 minutes before the appointment

Visit Agenda: Confirm the visit purpose and whether additional testing or in-person follow-up might be needed

Virtual Exam Techniques

Physical examination limitations are telehealth's primary constraint. Developing techniques to work around this improves clinical effectiveness:

Visual Assessment: Ask patients to show you affected areas (rashes, injuries, swelling) and position cameras to provide multiple angles

Guided Self-Examination: Walk patients through checking their own lymph nodes, abdominal tenderness, or joint range of motion while you observe

Home Monitoring Devices: Encourage patients with chronic conditions to have blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeters, thermometers, and scales for objective data collection

Family Member Assistance: For pediatric or geriatric patients, engage family members to assist with examination components

Clinical History Emphasis: Place greater weight on symptom description, timing, and associated factors when physical examination is limited

Lower Threshold for In-Person Follow-Up: When examination findings would change management, schedule in-person visits rather than guessing

Documentation Best Practices

Virtual visit documentation should meet the same standards as in-person care while capturing telehealth-specific elements:

Location documentation: Note patient and provider locations for licensing compliance
Technology used: Document the platform and any technical issues
Consent: Confirm patient consent for telehealth delivery
Examination limitations: Acknowledge when physical examination would be beneficial but wasn't possible
Follow-up plan: Clear plan for in-person assessment if needed

Many EHRs now include telehealth-specific templates that prompt for required documentation elements.

Marketing Telehealth Services

Patients won't use telehealth services they don't know exist. Effective marketing creates awareness, educates about appropriate use cases, and removes adoption barriers.

Patient Awareness Campaigns

Multi-channel communication ensures your patient population knows telehealth is available:

In-Office Promotion: Posters, flyers, and verbal mentions during checkout about telehealth availability

Website Prominence: Dedicated telehealth page explaining what's available, how to schedule, and what to expect

Email Campaigns: Regular messages to your patient panel about telehealth options, particularly for follow-ups or urgent issues, integrated with your patient communication preferences strategy.

Social Media: Posts showing how easy telehealth is, patient testimonials, and reminders of availability

Patient Portal Messages: Notifications within your patient portal adoption strategy when patients could use telehealth instead of in-person visits

The key is repetition—patients need to hear about telehealth multiple times before they'll try it.

Convenience Messaging

Frame telehealth around the concrete benefits patients experience:

"Skip the commute": Emphasize time savings and avoiding travel

"From the comfort of home": Appeal to patients' desire for convenience, particularly when ill

"Same-day availability": Highlight faster access than traditional appointments

"After hours options": Promote evening and weekend slots for working professionals

"Safe when you're contagious": Particularly relevant for respiratory illnesses—get care without exposing others

Avoid focusing solely on technology features. Patients care about outcomes (feeling better, saving time) more than the delivery mechanism.

Website Optimization

Your website should make telehealth scheduling frictionless:

Clear Call-to-Action: "Schedule Virtual Visit" button prominently displayed on homepage

Service Descriptions: Explain which concerns are appropriate for telehealth

Step-by-Step Guide: Visual walkthrough of joining a virtual visit reduces anxiety

FAQ Section: Address common questions about technology, insurance coverage, and clinical appropriateness

One-Click Scheduling: Direct link to online scheduling systems with telehealth appointments clearly marked

Mobile Optimization: Ensure the scheduling process works smoothly on smartphones

Patient Education

Help patients understand when telehealth is and isn't appropriate:

Good for Telehealth:

Medication refills and follow-ups
Rashes and skin conditions
Cold, flu, and sinus symptoms
Urinary symptoms
Mental health care
Test result discussions

May Need In-Person:

Severe pain or trauma
Difficulty breathing
Conditions requiring lab work or imaging
First-time diagnosis of complex conditions
Physical therapy or procedures

Setting appropriate expectations prevents frustration and improves clinical outcomes.

Reimbursement and Compliance

Telehealth reimbursement has expanded dramatically, but variations by payer and state require ongoing attention to maximize revenue and maintain compliance.

Payer Coverage Variations

Reimbursement policies differ significantly across payers:

Medicare: Covers telehealth for many services, though some geographic and facility restrictions remain. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) maintains updated guidance on Medicare telehealth coverage and reimbursement. Payment parity with in-person visits is maintained for many visit types.

Medicaid: Coverage varies by state. Some states have full payment parity, while others limit covered services or reimburse at lower rates.

Commercial Insurance: Most plans cover telehealth, particularly for primary care and behavioral health. Check individual payer policies for covered services and reimbursement rates.

Self-Pay: Cash-pay telehealth pricing often ranges from $40-$100 for basic visits, providing an alternative when insurance doesn't cover virtual care.

Stay informed about policy changes, as telehealth coverage continues evolving.

State Licensing Requirements

Physicians must be licensed in the state where the patient is located during the telehealth visit, not just where the physician practices. The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) provides guidance on interstate medical licensure and telehealth regulations.

This creates challenges for practices near state borders or seeking to expand geographic reach. Options include:

Multi-State Licensing: Obtain licenses in neighboring states with significant patient populations

Interstate Medical Licensure Compact: Streamlines licensing across participating states

Geographic Restrictions: Limit telehealth to patients in your licensed states

Your healthcare technology stack should include capabilities to verify patient location and restrict scheduling for out-of-state patients if needed.

HIPAA Considerations

Virtual care platforms must meet HIPAA security standards. Key requirements include:

Encrypted Communication: End-to-end encryption for video, audio, and chat

Business Associate Agreements: Written agreements with platform vendors

Access Controls: Authentication requirements for both patients and providers

Audit Logs: Tracking of who accesses patient information

Consumer video platforms (standard Zoom, FaceTime, Skype) don't meet HIPAA requirements unless specifically configured and contracted for healthcare use.

Document patient consent for telehealth services, including:

Understanding that care is being provided remotely
Acknowledgment of technology risks and limitations
Agreement to technical requirements (secure location, adequate connectivity)
Consent to store and transmit health information electronically

Many practices include telehealth consent in general patient intake forms or obtain consent verbally at the start of the first virtual visit.

Growth and Expansion

As telehealth becomes established in your practice, strategic expansion can drive significant growth.

Geographic Expansion

Telehealth enables you to serve patients beyond your traditional geographic footprint—but only where you're licensed.

Consider obtaining licenses in states where you have:

Existing patient relationships: Former patients who moved
Underserved populations: Rural areas lacking specialists in your field
High demand: States with long wait times for your specialty

Growing a statewide practice: Market broadly across your state rather than just your immediate area, using telehealth to provide access everywhere as part of your practice expansion strategy.

Border state strategy: For practices near state lines, licensing in adjacent states captures patients who might prefer your practice to closer options

New Service Lines

Expand your telehealth program to additional clinical services:

Chronic Care Management: Use telehealth for monthly check-ins required for CCM billing codes, improving both patient outcomes and practice revenue

Remote Patient Monitoring: Combine telehealth with connected devices for hypertension, diabetes, or heart failure management

Coaching and Education: Offer group telehealth classes for diabetes education, weight management, or other patient education programs

Specialist eConsults: Provide consultative services to other providers via telehealth, expanding your referral network

Each new service line requires appropriate clinical workflows and marketing, but leverages your existing telehealth infrastructure.

Market Differentiation

As telehealth becomes ubiquitous, differentiation matters:

Specialty-Specific Features: Teledermatology with photo documentation, telepsychiatry with integrated screening tools, or other specialty-optimized experiences

Superior Access: Same-day availability, extended hours, or 24/7 on-call telehealth services

White-Glove Experience: Concierge-style telehealth with pre-visit coordinators and post-visit follow-up

Hybrid Care Excellence: Seamless integration between in-person and virtual care that competitors can't match

Niche Targeting: Focus on specific populations (athletes, executives, rural residents) with tailored telehealth programs

The practices winning with telehealth aren't just offering video visits—they're building comprehensive virtual care programs that solve real patient problems while supporting practice growth. Success requires strategic planning, appropriate technology, effective marketing, and attention to compliance, but the result is a practice better positioned for the future of healthcare delivery.

When telehealth aligns with your broader practice goals and serves your patient population's needs effectively, it becomes more than a convenience feature. It's a strategic growth channel that expands access, improves patient satisfaction, and positions your practice competitively for whatever changes healthcare's future brings. Integrating telehealth into your comprehensive healthcare marketing compliance strategy ensures you're both promoting these services effectively and maintaining regulatory standards as your virtual care program grows.

Tara Minh

Operation Enthusiast