Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many healthcare organizations began to offer telehealth services as an alternative to in-clinic visits. This new access pathway is a trend that may not revert to normal after the pandemic is over. For interprofessional clinics like chiropractic, this could open an opportunity to have musculoskeletal experts such as chiropractors triage musculoskeletal problems via telehealth and lighten primary care providers’ workloads.
Despite the rapid shift to telehealth, many patients will require follow-up appointments in-clinic for diagnosis and treatment. To provide the most seamless patient experience, integrating virtual musculoskeletal encounters with in-person physical therapy is essential. This will allow patients to receive the best care possible and enable therapists to focus more on providing treatment and education.
This is just one example of how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed patient access to healthcare and how a growing number of patients are seeking personalized treatments. Unlike conventional medicine, which often treats patients with a trial and error approach, personalized health plans are designed to find the right drug at the right dose for each individual patient. By combining genetics, microbiome, environment, and lifestyle data, personalized health plans can identify which medicines are likely to work for each patient.
Using advanced data science and machine learning, this new method of delivering healthcare has the potential to revolutionize PM, but it will also require significant collaboration and a change in culture to succeed. Currently, the typical PM visit typically comprises patients discussing symptoms, demonstrating them to their doctor, and receiving a diagnosis and prescription for treatment. In the future, this process could be significantly accelerated and enhanced with technology that enables virtual examinations and imaging and can support a more standardized patient encounter.
Chiropractic practices have a unique opportunity to lead the charge toward contactless patient experiences. Implementing chiropractic telehealth software solutions will give your practice the tools needed to meet patients’ expectations and pave the way for a full-scale patient experience overhaul.
While a variety of technologies and modalities can be used to deliver personalized treatments, the most important tool for chiropractic clinicians is communication. Whether communicating with patients by phone, email, or video conference, effective communication is key to building trust and confidence. This means listening, understanding the patient’s perspective, and offering empathy.
To successfully implement a chiropractic care-at-home strategy, health systems must address a range of questions, including how this initiative fits into their overall healthcare strategies and what financial incentives will promote uptake. For instance, they will need to decide if they should incorporate this into existing operating service-line paradigms or develop it as a distinct division. They will also need to assess their risk-based payment strategies and determine whether this will be a value-adding or value-reducing endeavor. In addition, they will need to consider the impact of social determinants of health and how they might be addressed by this model, such as home supplement delivery or transportation or wellness programs. These factors will influence whether a particular health system chooses to develop their care-at-home strategy in partnership with the best Atlanta chiropractor or independently.