Transforming orthopedic patient care with telehealth

Telehealth solutions for orthopedic care

It's probably safe to guess that most orthopedic practices aren't fully utilizing telehealth services. The physical evaluations, the manual treatments, the intricate surgical procedures—the work of fixing bones and mending musculoskeletal conditions is nothing if not a hands-on affair.

Well, it used to be almost entirely hands-on that is—before the pandemic. With COVID-19, the advantages of telehealth suddenly came into focus. For orthopedic providers, it was about safety and limiting physical contact during the mandatory lockdowns.¹ Telehealth wasn't perfect, but it was better than the alternative of not working with non-critical patients at all.

So where do things stand with telehealth today? The general consensus, according to surveys, is that its place in the specialty of orthopedics is both limited and established. Orthopedic providers report that they're delivering less than 5 percent of patient appointments via telehealth, but they also note that it's beneficial in certain circumstances—including post-op visits and general follow-up care.² Here's a deeper dive into the evolving world of telehealth orthopedics.

Why telehealth? Benefits for orthopedic patients

According to one recent medical journal article, when orthopedic providers use telehealth, they do so because it's a “valuable tool" that helps them provide “high-quality, timely, and cost-effective care."³ Some appointments, for example, may involve a simple check-in that only requires a short conversation. In this case, a phone call or videoconference can benefit patients and prevent them from having to skip work, rearrange schedules, or take extra time to travel to and from the clinic.

Similarly, a patient with limited mobility—perhaps as a result of their surgery—may find it difficult to drive or to arrange the transportation required for an in-person visit. Telehealth can help orthopedic providers meet these patients halfway by making appointments more convenient, decreasing the likelihood of no-shows, and introducing potential efficiency gains.

Additionally, virtual consultations for routine appointments are often more practical, less burdensome, and more cost-effective than the alternative.⁴ Telehealth offers the promise of greater access to care. And while it can't stand in for all in-person visits, evidence shows it can replace at least some of them.⁵

Virtual visits reduce administrative burden and drive improvements in workflow efficiency.

Practice impact: How telehealth streamlines orthopedic workflows

If virtual orthopedic consultations have clear benefits for patients, the same can be said for practices that opt to offer telehealth services: virtual visits can reduce administrative burden and drive improvements in workflow efficiency. They also free up valuable in-person space, allow for greater scheduling flexibility, and ultimately, help clinics make better use of limited human and technological resources.

In fact, in one study of patients with either knee or shoulder conditions, by providing care via telehealth, physicians cut clinical contact times from an average of 11 minutes to less than 5 minutes with no difference in outcomes.⁶ Surgeons were able to see significantly more patients overall—172 patients per year, on average—and they saved their practices thousands of dollars through reduced administrative costs.

Another recent study similarly showed how telemedicine had helped orthopedic trauma surgeons specifically.⁷ Concluding that a “variety of applications" for telehealth had been established in the wake of the pandemic, it noted that surgeons were “able to follow more out-of-town patients, allowing for continuity of care" and that telehealth had not “slowed down providers' clinics and has been utilized by patients of all ages." The technology, the authors reported, allowed physicians to see an equal or greater number of patients without overcrowding their appointment schedules, all while maintaining “professional effectiveness, clinical efficiency, and personable patient care."

In short, deploying a hybrid model of patient care that combines virtual and in-person visits can be an effective way to improve practice throughput. And it can also support the kind of ongoing patient monitoring that's often essential to treatment success.

athenaOne®: Supporting providers with an integrated telehealth solution

While virtual orthopedic services offer benefits for patients and practices alike, telehealth programs typically only work well when the technologies they leverage are easy to access and understand. 

As an all-in-one EHR, practice management, and patient engagement solution, athenaOne for Orthopedics is designed to help clinics drive quality care while operating more efficiently and cost-effectively. Its clinical tools streamline everything from documentation to patient communication, while its revenue-cycle-management functions help practices with billing and collections. In addition, for virtual visits specifically, the system comes ready with plug-and-play compatibility with the athenaTelehealth™ solution. Here's how athenaOne for Orthopedics streamlines virtual care for patients and providers:  

• End-to-end telehealth integration. athenaTelehealth is fully embedded within athenaOne so that scheduling, virtual visits, and documentation and billing are completed in the same place. Through the broader platform and interoperability across the athenahealth network, clinicians have access to up-to-date records from the patient's other providers.
• Group video conferencing. The system allows up to four people to participate in any telehealth consultation. If a patient's caregivers or other providers (PTs, OTs, etc.) need to be on the call, the orthopedic providers can simply invite them and send a link to the scheduled appointment.
• Patient engagement tools. Before or following their telehealth visit, patients can use the athenahealth portal for appointment check-ins, secure messaging, and to pay their bills. For the visit itself, no downloads are required: Patients can join from any device with a current web browser and video camera. 

Telehealth will never replace the need for high-quality, in-person consultations. But with the help of an integrated platform like athenaOne for Orthopedics, it can become a way to support them. For orthopedic practices, providing virtual services doesn't have to be complicated; it's just about ensuring that patients can get the care that they need at the right time. 

Explore athenahealth's telehealth services for your orthopedic practice.