Deploying Your Telehealth Platform

Telemedicine is a burgeoning industry with potential to enhance patient care and physician outreach. A review of the current literature and legislative laws was conducted along with knowledge from the experience gathered at starting a telehealth platform at Texas Children's Hospital to find the necessary steps for starting a telehealth program. The authors propose their pearls to deploying a capable telehealth platform for the large hospital system. Doing so properly can increase capacity within hospital operations and improve health care economics. Select use-cases can be focused to leverage stakeholder need, while maximizing potential return. Successful deployment of a telehealth platform can be done on a small margin and accrued revenue can be reinvested as the basis for growth. Risk management considerations upfront will help navigate hurdles in the evolving legislative and regulatory landscape. This article presents the authors' stepwise approach for arranging and conducting a teleconsultation between patient and physician along with pearls for risk management considerations to be aware of throughout the process.