In this Telehealth Feature Series, we’re going to cover the long list of potential telehealth features available today. As you’re considering your own approach to telehealth, we will provide you a look at all the possible features telehealth companies are offering on the market. Plus, we’ll offer our insight into the nuances of each feature so you can select the right telehealth company or companies you use. Not all telehealth is created equal, so taking the time to understand all the possible features and options is worth the effort.
The next feature we’re going to cover is Telehealth Analytics.
It’s no surprise that analytics would be on the list of telehealth features since every technology product in the world is now an analytics product. It’s one of the amazing things with technology and can also be a scary one depending on how it’s used. Luckily, in the telehealth space is mostly good.
This said, I have to admit that I haven’t really seen a telehealth vendor really go all in when it comes to analytics. I think that’s still to come and will happen as the telehealth market really matures. Remember that prior to COVID-19 telehealth wasn’t really a mature market because it hadn’t been adopted widely enough. Telehealth companies had to focus on features that would generate new sales. For good or bad, analytics didn’t really move the needle for sales. Now that telehealth is adopted much more widely, we’ll see a maturing of what the product offers including analytics.
Since we’re early, I think it’s still hard to know exactly which analytics telehealth companies would want. Although, the obvious ones would be some of the following:
- How much before an appointment patients arrive?
- How long was the patient waiting for their appointment time?
- How long was the intake?
- How long did it take the patients to fill out forms?
- How long was the visit with the doctor?
Of course, we’d want to be able to slice and dice this data. For example, you may want to know the average visit time with the doctor for a whole practice and then by individual doctor and then by individual week or day. Would be great to slice and dice the visit time by visit type or diagnosis or other factors as well. One of the beauties of telehealth is that all of this time data can be easily collected and reported on. That’s possible in person, but is much harder.
Beyond the time study data that a telehealth vendor could collect, analytics around how patients are connecting to telehealth would be interesting too. Is it through mobile? Is it a desktop? Which browsers? etc. Knowing this could help you know how to better serve your patients. Plus, you could use it to know which platforms matter most to your patients as you evaluate telehealth options.
Those are some of the obvious analytics. I’d be interested to hear if people know of other telehealth analytics they’ve seen. Or are there analytics that you’d find useful. Let us know in the comments.
Be sure to check out our full list of telehealth features, our deep dive into each telehealth feature, and our list of telehealth companies.