Preparing staff for teledermatology

After determining that telemedicine is right for your practice and selecting a vendor, consider these steps for integrating teledermatology into your practice.

Decide how you will offer teledermatology

Determine what kind of scheduling for teledermatology you will offer. Store-and-forward technology gives the dermatologist more flexibility. You can state a response will come within 24 hours of the request. For live-interactive teledermatology, follow your practice's usual scheduling process and set appointments specifically for teledermatology cases. Of course, you can practice both kinds of dermatology. See Starting teledermatology to learn more about types of teledermatology.

Check with your EHR to see if they provide a telehealth application you can use with your patients.

Define roles

Determine which members of your staff will play a role in your teledermatology workflow. Defining roles within your teledermatology team can help ensure the new process rolls out smoothly and that your practice adopts the technology efficiently.

For example, administrative staff will be critical to the success of your practice workflow. They will be responsible for scheduling patients, initiating virtual appointments at appropriate times, and maintaining efficient workflow in the practice.

Assign roles

Assign administrative staff and explain more about their role connecting with patients. Will they be scheduling teledermatology appointments? Will they focus on particular requests from patients?

Ensure that the physician or non-physician clinician are in charge of any communications with patients and are reviewing messages that come in. If a teledermatology case needs to be reviewed, have the right clinical team member to assess it.

Need help with IT or billing issues? Assign a staff member to learn more about this. And consider cross-training so you have added flexibility and back-up.

Learn more about staff integration and engagement.

Use the EHR

Ensure that the patient has been registered in the practice’s EHR and billing system prior to the appointment. Collect intake and insurance information before the teledermatology visit. Check with your EHR if this can be submitted through the patient portal. More on patient portals.

Understand needs after patient encounter

Be sure staff understand what needs to be done after the encounter. The dermatologist will complete documentation in the patient's medical record. Assigned staff will file reimbursement for the claim, or charge the patient, as applicable. Your team may also want to send a summary of care to the patient's existing health care team, if coordination of care is needed.

Finally, consider following up with the patient after the visit to survey their level of satisfaction with the telemedicine visit. These surveys can help you identify areas for improvement.

Additional Academy resources