A recent study by Michigan Medicine just broke down the telehealth numbers and the results may surprise you.
Some aspects of telehealth may lead to higher costs for hospitals, while others may save money.
We can help your practice get up to date and prepared to minimize breach risks from third-party vendors. Subscribe to stay current and up to date on important matters that will impact your practice. (To subscribe to our blog click here).
While there are a lot of variables in both telehealth and in-person visits, the study looked at the average times and costs.
Overall, physicians spent more time with the patient during telehealth appointments. On average, physicians’ face-to-face time was 3.6 minutes longer than in-person visits.
Physician-led visits also cost the health system an average of 42 cents more for virtual visits.
There is also an argument to be made that convenience of telehealth appointments could lead to fewer no-shows and cancelations, but the study found that the percentages of cancelations were similar. There were less no-shows virtually, but the difference was only 3% of visits, dropping from 8% to 5%.
More patients completed their appointments in person.
For patients, the average length of appointments were only 24 minutes for telehealth, compared to the 80 minute time for in-person visits.
The length of visit for patients may lead to the frequency of future visits, as patients are often frustrated with the lengths of doctor visits.
Have you utilized telehealth in your office? Have your findings been similar to the Michigan Medicine study?
Let us know by commenting below!
We publish vital information on health law topics and news every Wednesday and Friday. To get this important information delivered directly to your mail box, click here to Subscribe.
Do you need help with updating your Business Associate Agreement or negotiating contracts with third-party vendors? We can help. To contact us about your Business Associate Agreement, your vendor contracts or your other legal needs: CLICK HERE.