So you want to “do telehealth”?
When thinking about adding telehealth to support and enhance the services your department already provides, it is important to understand there are many questions that will require your consideration and response prior to the first connection. The following list provides a high-level view of the issues to be considered. It also identifies who has a level of responsibility for those aspects and would need to be involved in the discussion when searching for the right and complete answers.
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Questions To Be Asked…and Answered |
NM Service Line |
Service Receiver Facility |
Telehealth |
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Initial considerations |
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What service are you planning to deliver? |
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Which patients are you planning to serve? |
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Will you need to see and hear the patient when delivering the service? |
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Will they be seen at a healthcare facility, or their home? |
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First Steps |
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Does the remote location have a need for the service? |
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How do you know? |
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Does the remote location want NM providers to deliver the service? |
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How do you know? |
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Is there a local clinical champion/supporter? |
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Is there a local administrative/leadership champion/supporter? |
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Does NM have the capacity to add these services? |
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Are NM providers willing to provide services via telehealth? |
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Do NM providers currently go on-site to provide these services? |
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Will they continue a level of in-person/on-site services going forward? |
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Are you planning to be paid for these services? |
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Is the community an eligible location for telehealth billing? |
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If not, have other options been considered? |
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Is the service part of a bundled payment, or is it a gratis service? |
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Getting Started |
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Has NM been invited to provide telehealth services? |
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Confirm physical location of the remote service site |
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Has the remote location’s administrative leadership approved the request? |
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What patient services will be provided? |
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Does the remote location have staff to support the remote delivery of care? |
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Is that staff prepared/trained to support this service? |
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Are they able to do the labs and tests that you need? |
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Are the prescriptions you would normally prescribe available in their Rx? |
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Are the NM providers licensed in the state in which the community is located? |
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Does the remote location have telehealth equipment already in place? |
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What is it and what have they used it for in the past? |
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Is it compatible with our equipment? |
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Is it accessible to your patients? |
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What about billing? |
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Have the appropriate visit types been added to the clinic’s Epic? |
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Is the remote site prepared to bill the originating site fee? |
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How will the patients’ information be incorporated into their/our EMR? |
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Implementation |
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Is a Telehealth Services Agreement (TSA) in place? |
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Who is the actual organization that needs to sign the agreement? |
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Who is the signing administrator? |
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Are there multiple services being considered? |
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Is a Credentialing by Proxy agreement needed? |
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Does the organization allow for the “by Proxy” credentialing option? |
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Which providers will be delivering services? |
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Can this be signed at the same time as the TSA? |
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How are appointments scheduled? Frequency? |
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How has this been coordinated with the remote location? |
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How will the patient actually check-in for their appointment? |
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Is a level of clinical assistance needed on-site during the appointment? |
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What level of provider is needed? (MA/RN/other?) |
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Has this been coordinated with the remote location? |
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Will any tests/labs/images be likely? Can they be done at this location? |
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What is the process for documentation at both locations? |
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Will the patients need any paperwork/patient ed? (at check-in? for take-home?) |
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How has this been coordinated with the remote location? |
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How will information regarding the patient be communicated to the PCP? |
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On-going Evaluation and Improvement |
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How will you know the service is successful? |
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How will you gain input from remote locations? (providers/coordinators) |
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How will you gain input from patients? |
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How will you gain input from NM providers? |
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Will there be regular (qtrly?) discussions with all involved? |
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