How Can Doctors Practice Online? (Telehealth)

Virtual Doctor vs In-Person Doctor: What’s the Difference?

There are no differences at all between healthcare professionals that accept in-person visits and online medical experts, as they both attended medical schools and are licensed doctors. However, online medical professionals can offer some advantages:

• Can practice from home without a doctor’s office or other medical facilities
• No waiting room to manage
• Have patient appointments arranged through online platforms
• Need fewer personnel to run their practice

Thanks to the advancement in technology, there are now many similarities and few differences between in-person appointments and online doctor visits.

HIPAA and Telehealth Services

When it comes to online health care services, the personal and health data of the patients must always be treated according to HIPAA privacy guidelines by online providers, virtual doctors, and health insurance companies.

How to Medical Help Online

A primary care provider wishing to offer its medical expertise to patients online can do so by following these 5 steps:

1. Optimize Your Website — Having a well-designed website that’s also high-ranking is the first step for a doctor who wants to promote their services to a broader audience.
2. Increase Social Media Presence — A solid social media presence has proved to be an effective way for medical professionals to connect and engage with existing patients and potential patients.
3. Enhance Your Web Presence — Having your medical practice listed on online doctors’ directories and appearing on Google Business Profile and Google Maps is key to being visible.
4. Elevate Reputation Management — Online reviews, referrals, and word-of-mouth are great ways to establish and improve your reputation online and offline.
5. Offer Online Scheduling — 80% of patients prefer doctors who offer online scheduling and online appointments.

Healthcare professionals, physicians, and doctors know how important it is to take advantage of the services of a reliable marketing agency to plan and implement an effective marketing strategy and “online move.”

How Do Online Doctors Treat and Diagnose?

During an online doctor visit, a medical expert will provide quality healthcare services to the patient by asking about:

• Symptoms—what type of symptoms does the patient have, for how long, and their intensity
• Family and personal medical history
• Health insurance coverage

At the end of the visit, the medical provider might prescribe medications that the patient will get from a local pharmacy.

Why You Should Go Online

As a doctor online, you can extend your medical services to more patients, reach a wider audience, and visit more patients in less time. Moreover, you can cut your operational costs and the costs of in-person visits sustained by your patients.

All telemedicine services available have agreements with major health insurance plans, and most have solutions even for patients without health insurance, thus making online healthcare a powerful way to beat inequality in the healthcare system and extend your professional services to demographics that would otherwise struggle to access healthcare.

Another great advantage of telemedicine is that, if needed, online doctors can easily share their patient’s medical information with other board-certified doctors, private insurers, and with the patient’s primary care doctor or primary care physician.

Choose Golden Tide Consulting for Your Online Move

Golden Tide Consulting is helping medical professionals to establish a strong online reputation and advertise their services to a wider audience.

If you want to build a strong online reputation and reach potential patients, then we have the tools you need. Contact us today to get the results you’re looking for!