Today’s patients need telemedicine solutions more than ever. They want the convenience of texting their doctor and setting up appointments without having to step inside a clinic. Many patients can’t afford the luxury of visiting their healthcare provider in person because they’re either located far from the clinic or they don’t have transport available. 

The question on everyone’s mind is—which telemedicine solution would their clinic benefit from the most? 

For starters, an excellent telemedicine solution needs to be able to integrate with a cloud-based EHR like AdvancedMD. Without integration, medical staff is stuck with the issue of data double-entry, which only increases the workload. Integrating your EHR with Curogram would solve this issue and introduce a bunch of useful features that increase your practice’s productivity. 

Texting has become the #1 most requested telemedicine feature among patients. Few vendors can offer it, as there are security concerns for sharing patient information over text. Curogram enables HIPAA-compliant two-way texting between patients and doctors. 

While integrating other telemedicine software might take months, Curogram gets the job done in less than 48h. Your clinic can start using advanced telemedicine solutions over the course of a single weekend and start working more efficiently. 

Why Is It Important To Integrate Curogram With AdvancedMD?

It’s impossible to overstate the influence of digital solutions in medicine. Paperwork is the bane of medical staff, with administrative work taking up two-thirds of doctors’ shifts. To avoid the drudgery of paperwork, clinics are integrating digital solutions at an increasing rate. Studies estimate that digital investments in medicine will see an increase of 26% by 2024, which would equate to $379 billion invested. 

A good number of clinics are still hesitant to integrate telemedicine solutions because they perceive them as an expensive luxury—though the data doesn’t agree with this assessment. Paperwork and manual data entry take up a majority of clinic work, even though much of the work is unnecessary. 

Integrating Curogram would help your clinic increase efficiency by reducing the amount of paperwork and streamlining day-to-day clinic tasks. Instead of wasting time handling paperwork, staff can focus on providing diagnostics and care to a larger number of patients. 

What Are the Benefits of Telemedicine Integration With AdvancedMD?

Integrating a telemedicine solution provides countless benefits to patients and clinic staff. Many healthcare providers hesitate to implement telemedicine software because they aren’t aware of the potential gain. Here’s a list of the most prominent telemedicine benefits:

  1. Better patient outcomes
  2. Streamlined workflow
  3. Accurate data transfer

Improve Patient Outcomes

Patients that have a hard time communicating with their healthcare provider aren’t likely to come in for frequent check-ups. When you provide them with telemedicine features, they can contact their doctor for consultation for both minor and major issues. Frequent communication can help patients manage their healthcare more efficiently and lead to better treatment outcomes.

Work Efficiently

Telemedicine solutions try to simulate the clinic environment to help staff adapt to new changes and features. Virtual waiting rooms make it easier to maintain the workflow that staff is used to in an in-person setting while also simplifying online appointment organization. 

There’s no complex training required to start using Curogram features. Staff can continue admitting and providing care to patients without delays. 

Transfer Data With Ease

Telemedicine solutions like Curogram help cut back on unnecessary clinic paperwork. Instead of inputting patient forms manually, clinic staff can send digital forms to the patients, who then fill them out at home. 

The data is uploaded to AdvancedMD automatically, and there’s no need to transcribe the forms. Staff can then focus on communicating with patients and providing the most effective medical care instead of dealing with mountains of paperwork. 

Telemedicine solutions eliminate the risk of human error by automating the data transfer process. Data from scheduled appointments and patient inquiries is also uploaded into the database, where it’s easy to access. 

Integrating AdvancedMD With Curogram Paves the Way for Telemedicine & Two-Way Texting Features

Integrating most telemedicine solutions is an enormous undertaking for a healthcare provider. Here are some of the reasons that providers hesitate to embrace telemedicine:

  1. The integration can take up to nine months
  2. Employees require extensive training
  3. The clinic has to hire an IT expert
  4. Contracts and price quotes take time to negotiate

What makes Curogram so attractive is that it doesn’t have any of these issues during the integration process. 

Curogram Integrates With AdvancedMD in 48h or Less

You might spend months integrating another telemedicine solution with AdvancedMD, but Curogram does it within the span of a weekend. Our state-of-the-art integration technology makes it easy to connect with any EHR. There’s no complex installation involved, and you can set up your virtual clinic within two days or less. 

Clinic Staff Can Start Using Curogram Within Five Minutes

Simplicity is another benefit of using Curogram. Clinic staff doesn’t require extensive training to use the software. The user interface is simple and intuitive, making it easy for clinic staff to adapt. After a quick 15-minute introduction, they can start using the diverse features that Curogram offers.

The Software Doesn’t Require IT Expertise

Most telemedicine software solutions take from three to nine months to integrate with AdvancedMD and similar EHRs. Since data security is paramount in healthcare, clinics often require the help of an IT expert to handle all the technical details and complete the integration process without errors, which can cost the clinic a pretty penny. 

The beauty of Curogram lies in the fact that it integrates with AdvancedMD automatically. You can set up your virtual clinic with ease and avoid having to hire an IT expert. Save time and money by choosing Curogram over more convoluted telemedicine software. 

The Administrative Portion Is Simple

To implement a telemedicine solution, you have to deal with the vendor that sells the software. The administrative part of the integration process only prolongs it further. By the time you get a price quote and negotiate a contract, months can pass.

With Curogram, no negotiation is necessary. Once you opt for our software, you enter into a Business Associate Agreement by default. Just like when it comes to clinic work, we can cut down on unnecessary paperwork and get things done in no time. 

Curogram Integrates With Any EHR With Ease

Curogram’s advanced integration software makes it a viable pairing for any clinic’s EHR. Our software can link with app-based, cloud-based, server-based, and web-browser-based EHRs to provide a streamlined telemedicine experience. 

When integrated with AdvancedMD, Curogram imports the following patient data:

  • Email
  • Phone
  • Name
  • Date of Birth (DOB)

The software takes the different types of appointments into account as well. When it comes to appointments, Curogram imports:

  • Appointment types
  • Appointment times
  • Provider
  • Location

Curogram’s Integration With AdvancedMD Enables Customized Patient Intake Forms

Most clinics use paper forms to collect patient information. While they do get the job done, paper forms come with a few downsides:

  • Paperwork requires time and resources
  • Staff must transcribe the data manually
  • Illegible handwriting causes delays and mistakes
  • Patients clutter waiting rooms while filling out paper forms

Dealing with this paperwork takes up a significant chunk of the clinic staff’s time. Switching to electronic intake forms could alleviate these issues and improve clinic workflow. 

Curogram’s Electronic Patient Intake forms are a much more convenient option compared to paper forms. You can send patients customized intake forms that they can fill out on their phone or desktop computer. These secure forms make it more convenient to collect patient data. 

The info is uploaded automatically into your EHR in a neat PDF format. There’s no need to transcribe or read illegible handwriting, so the collected information is 100% accurate.

With less administrative work on their hands, clinic staff can focus on admitting patients and providing care. 

Curogram Enables Customized Appointment Reminders

Different types of appointments require different instructions. If a patient needs to provide additional information or add images of their condition before an appointment, the reminder needs to cover this. 

Curogram lets you customize appointment reminders to include specific info that the patient will need to prepare. 

Curogram Differentiates Between In-Person and Virtual Appointments

Health providers will continue seeing patients in person, in addition to enabling virtual appointments. Patients still have to come in for advanced diagnostics and treatments for a variety of medical conditions. This means that your telemedicine solution should be able to differentiate between in-person and online appointments and send the appropriate reminders. 

Curogram allows you to customize and set reminders for different appointment types. 

When it comes to virtual appointments, you can send reminders 30 and 15 minutes before the scheduled visit. For an in-person appointment, however, the reminder has to account for travel time. You can also customize the reminder to include the clinic’s location and provide other relevant information and instructions to the patient.

How To Evaluate a Telemedicine Solution

Evaluating a telemedicine solution isn’t an easy task, especially if you aren’t familiar with this type of software. It can take a while before you get a good grasp of the features a telemedicine solution offers.

The best way to evaluate a telemedicine solution is to ask vendors the right questions. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for every EHR, but you can get a good idea of what telemedicine software offers once you ask a few questions. Start with these to get a good overview of a telemedicine solution:

  1. What kind of training is required?
  2. Does your telemedicine system provide unique links for patients so that they don’t have to re-enter login data?
  3. Does your platform support internal communication and file sharing?
  4. Can you automate your reminders differently depending on the visit type?
  5. Can you customize your reminders so that you can include patient onboarding instructions?
  6. How long does the integration process take?
  7. Are there any additional integration costs?
  8. Does your telemedicine solution offer two-way texting with the patient?

If you like all the answers, the telemedicine solution you’re eyeing might be right for your clinic. 

What Are Some Must-Have Features for a Telemedicine Solution?

You should familiarize yourself with the different essential telemedicine features before you make a final decision. Many healthcare providers settle for lackluster software that doesn’t provide the full scope of telemedicine benefits. Some use Zoom or Skype for virtual appointments, even though these programs are a logistical nightmare, can’t integrate with your EHR, and are not HIPAA-compliant. 

For integration to be worth the trouble, the telemedicine software needs to have the following features:

  1. Virtual waiting rooms
  2. Electronic patient intake forms
  3. Smart appointment reminders
  4. Texting between patients and healthcare professionals
  5. Online scheduling

Set Up a Virtual Waiting Room

To replicate the process of admitting patients in a real clinic, Curogram allows you to set up a virtual waiting room for patients. When they are due for an online appointment, the patient has to be processed and sent to the right physician. 

The virtual waiting room view can be configured to ensure that the patient goes through the same process as they would in an in-person setting. If the front desk hasn’t taken the patient’s info yet, the patient will only be visible to the front desk staff until they provide the necessary information. Once MAs change the patient’s status to “ready,” the patient will appear in the doctor’s view, and the doctor can initiate the appointment with a single click.

Collect Information With Ease

Patients must provide essential information about their symptoms, illness, history, medication, and other info before they start an appointment. With Curogram’s electronic intake forms, a patient can provide all the necessary information without stepping foot in the clinic. 

The data is uploaded automatically, and the patient’s physician can pull it from the database during the appointment. There’s no need for paperwork or manual data entry when you go digital with Curogram. 

Reduce No-Shows

Regular reminders aren’t effective enough to keep patients from forgetting about scheduled appointments. Patients miss one-fifth of all appointments, and ineffective reminders are part of the problem. 

Curogram solves this issue by providing the patient with ample time to prepare for an appointment. The healthcare provider can adjust reminders so that patients receive a text at certain intervals, as well as the day of the appointment. 

People are far more likely to read texts than answer phone calls, making text appointment reminders a much more effective choice. Curogram’s smart text reminders reduce the number of no-show patients by 75%!

Send Secure Texts

Telemedicine solutions rarely offer texting as a feature, as it’s not considered a secure medium and could lead to HIPAA violations. After integrating Curogram, you can enjoy secure and HIPAA-compliant texting between patients and doctors without breaking a sweat. 

Our secure platform features additional layers of security, keeping patient personal health information safe from breaches. Patients can schedule, reschedule, and ask their doctor questions via text. The doctors can complete the following tasks:

  • Onboarding patients
  • Sending patient intake forms
  • Giving information about prescriptions
  • Sending payment links
  • Giving information about the visit
  • Sending details about lab orders

Integrate Your Online Schedule

Telemedicine solutions that don’t integrate schedules are difficult to manage. Physicians have to go back and forth with a patient before an appointment can be scheduled, and rescheduling becomes a nightmare. 

Thanks to Curogram’s online schedule integration capabilities, your staff won’t have to think twice about appointment scheduling. The patient can view available time slots and choose the one that suits them best. They can use the platform to schedule and reschedule as it fits them, without disrupting their physician’s workflow. Schedule a demo today!