Top 4 Tips for Building the Ultimate Telemedicine Team

Over the past few years, telemedicine has become an increasingly popular practice with strong research suggesting that it’s here to stay. Research shows that 76% of patients who had a telehealth visit in 2022 would like to continue meeting virtually with their doctor. In the age of digitally enabled care, it is critical to find the most suitable talent for telemedicine to remain competitive. Here are some of the top tips for creating the ultimate telehealth team.

1. Verify Certification

Telemedicine is especially prone to enticing unqualified candidates and scammers. As a high-risk industry, it is critical to perform all due diligence to ensure every candidate is qualified first. The risk of hiring an unqualified or incompetent professional to provide vital life-saving care is hard to overstate. Consequences include irretrievable reputation damage, imprisonment, adverse outcomes, and expensive lawsuits and fines.

Whatever the role in telemedicine, ensure that all candidates are vetted and credible. One of the best ways to verify credentials is through a pre-employment background check. Asking applicants upfront for proof limits fraud, saves time, and lowers the risk of poor hiring.

2. Look for Empathy

Virtual interactions require medical professionals to be even more adept at soft skills than in-person medicine. Empathy is fundamental to great virtual care because it takes more patience and forethought than traditional care.

A medical professional can have every credential in the world, but if they lack patient empathy, they will fail at their job.

Host a remote interview to ensure a candidate knows how to be warm and inviting virtually. Focus on how they interact remotely to ensure they don’t come off as distant (no pun intended) and impersonal. Many patients already feel a certain amount of disconnect with virtual appointments, so you want to hire someone who can really excel at providing a warm presence.

3. Look for Digital Readiness

Physicians and healthcare professionals are trained in practicing medicine, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are tech-savvy. It may be unrealistic to find an abundance of highly experienced telemedicine providers readily available.

However, digital readiness is a critical characteristic for remote medical professionals. Some questions to consider when looking for digital readiness include:

• How eager are they to adopt and learn new technology?
• Do they have the all the necessary technologies and software for an effective appointment?
• Do they have teleconferencing protections in place to ensure patient privacy and HIPAA compliance?

4. Invest in Training

Training investment is critical to a successful hire and signals to candidates that you are serious about your telehealth program. It is a great way to appeal to top talent and ensure your team building is as effective as possible.

Training videos, clinical practice guidelines, workflows, and tip sheets are all crucial elements of successful virtual training. Keep in mind that training tools and materials should be routinely reviewed, updated, and revised, with best practices shared at monthly meetings.

Create a Telehealth Dream Team

Telehealth continues to be a critical avenue of care that saves time for providers and patients alike. However, the right talent for virtual care requires looking for the right capabilities and skills. Start building your ultimate telehealth team using these tips today!

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