Telehealth is booming like never before. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, people wanted access to more efficient medical visits. For people without access to a provider, or for whom getting out of their home is difficult, having access to telehealth is critical for their wellbeing. As this demand increases, so does the need for access to quality healthcare providers via telehealth.
Whether you’re an entirely online practice or you’re increasing your telehealth offerings, hiring the best possible candidate ensures patient retention and satisfaction. Let’s look at some of the top tips for hiring a telehealth professional, ensuring you’re getting a great fit for your office and that will work well with your clients. From interviews and sourcing to credentialing and video conferencing, ViTel is here to help every step of the way.
1. Ensure You’re Using a Diverse Pool of Candidates
It can be difficult to find qualified physicians in your area directly, but the beauty of telehealth is that you can source your professional services from across the country. Finding a candidate who is licensed to practice in your state and a perfect fit for your Florida-based business, but who is located in New York is a snap if you’re using an integrated telehealth platform like ViTel.
We can find qualified candidates, creating lasting relationships between diverse businesses and professionals across the country. By allowing our platform to help find you candidates based on a variety of needs, we can help narrow your search while still keeping it robust enough to give you solid choices. You won’t need to simply accept the best candidate from a small pool of local professionals; you’ll have access to a large, qualified group.
2. Use Digital Credentialing
One of the most nerve-wracking parts of hiring a new professional is verifying their credentials. This process can take far longer than you’d like, and there’s a lot of room for human error when it’s done in the traditional way, which means pulling records, scanning, faxing, and a lot of waiting.
Digital credentialing for telehealth professionals verifies their data and stores it securely, updating when necessary so that all of the information is current and true. This means easier access to necessary information and also that you can trust the information you’re given. ViTel keeps up-to-date records of our professionals so that you can quickly move through the hiring process whether you’re pulling candidates from us or simply using our credentialing services.
Nobody wants to find out that their verification process was tainted with human error or that their candidates aren’t who they say they are, and with ViTel’s help, that will never be a scenario in which you find yourself.
3. Ensure They’re Tech-Savvy
Your professionals don’t need to be IT wizards, but if your telehealth physician isn’t at least savvy with Zoom or Skype, then they’re going to have problems speaking with and diagnosing their patients. They should, at the very least, have good computers, cameras, and teleconferencing protections to ensure HIPAA compliance while they’re speaking with their patients.
It’s also critical that they’ve got a dedicated space for their telehealth practice. While we have become accustomed to Zoom meetings being interrupted by errant pets or children, speaking with a doctor should still be a private, safe space where your patients feel comfortable and taken care of. Anyone you’re considering hiring needs to demonstrate an ability to handle whatever basic technical issues with expediency and grace, and with the hardware and internet connection to handle this type of business. ViTel also offers our MDs training in Empathic listening and Emotional Intelligence to improve their connection with patients over distance.
4. Interview the Person
Your patients need a physician, but there’s no reason for them to stick with you if the doctors they have access to aren’t comforting to them. A physician can have all the credentials in the world but if they aren’t well-versed in bedside manner, or feel aloof, cold, or impersonal, they’re not doing a great job. Medicine shouldn’t be cold and impersonal—patients need their doctors to be knowledgeable but also demonstrate that they care.
When you do your interviews with your potential hires, ensure that they know how to interact with people, and actually care about their patients. Get to know their methods, how they view patient interaction and try to get information on how they interacted at prior jobs. Interviewing the person is especially important for telehealth professions, as the process of remote medical visits already can feel cold and impersonal. You want to hire someone that can connect despite the sometimes distant feeling people associate with remote access.
Partnering With Digital Health Professionals
ViTel has created an integrated platform that links professionals to providers that are hiring. We can help by streamlining administrative duties from financials to credentialing, to referring patients to specialists and rehab centers.
We’ve developed a HIPAA-compliant platform that stores patient data securely and can share it with other telehealth physicians to make referrals and second-opinions an utter breeze. Additionally, our machine-learning AI can make patient intake both effortless for both you and the client.
Contact us today and we can demo our platform to show you how ViTel is revolutionizing remote healthcare for patients and doctors alike.
