Choosing the Best TeleNeurology Partner

1. Level of Quality: One of the most critical elements to consider when choosing a teleneurology company is the quality and form of virtual care. You can use numerous metrics to gauge a teleneurology program’s offerings, such as patient outcomes and overall satisfaction levels. Some relevant key performance indicators include the following.

• Patient outcomes: Patient outcomes and experiences are vital aspects to consider when working with a teleneurology partner. A leading teleneurology provider can improve the level of care patients receive and enhance their overall treatment and experience.
• Door-to-needle time: DTN time is an essential metric. DTN measures the time from when a stroke patient enters a medical facility to the administration of a thrombolytic agent. Reducing DTN times is a vital aspect of ensuring favorable patient treatments and outcomes.
• Video preparation time: Another crucial consideration is how long it takes a leading physician to get on a video call and begin working directly with a facility and patient. Quick, efficient assessment and intervention are essential for potential stroke patients. Your health care organization will want to partner with physicians who can get on video as soon as possible.
• Thrombolytic rates: Patients who fall within the time window for receiving thrombolytic agents must be considered for this lifesaving treatment. In some cases, patients may not be eligible for thrombolytic agents because they may take anticoagulants, have recently undergone surgery, or have a history of bleeding stroke. Regardless, thrombolytic rates can still provide essential information about the access to care patients should expect through a teleneurology service.

2. Compatibility: When choosing a teleneurology partner, it is essential to consider your health care facility’s specific needs to determine compatibility with your operation. Compatibility between your health care facility and a teleneurology partner can help you determine if a potential partner may provide the services you need. If you are comparing teleneurology partners, you may want to consider the following compatibility metrics.

• Flexibility: Many health providers require adaptable teleneurology partners, letting you choose different options to suit your needs. A range of high-quality services can help your practice succeed. Your patients may also request flexible hours for contacting teleneurologists.
  
• EMR migration: Electronic medical records (EMR) are essential aspects of many medical facilities. Seamless EMR migration is a hallmark of a successful teleneurology partner. EMR migration allows your facility to easily transfer patient records to and from your teleneurology partner while prioritizing their safety.
• Configurability: An ideal teleneurology partner will align with your facility’s needs and workflows. To achieve this level of integration, a potential teleneurology partner should offer a customizable platform that allows you to optimize your facility’s needs and capabilities to serve your patients better.
• Technology: An effective and efficient teleneurology partner will have an innovative, state-of-the-art technology platform. Advanced platforms can provide statistical analysis to estimate future demand for teleneurology services, allowing you to plan accordingly and precisely.

3. Clinical Quality Management Program: Assessing a teleneurology partner’s clinical management can help you choose a high-quality partner that fits your facility’s unique needs. One of the first aspects to consider is whether all teleneurologists are well-educated, board-certified professionals. Additionally, you will want to work with teleneurologists who are experienced and fellowship-trained in their subspecialties. 

High-quality practice management includes additional services, such as a peer review program, recruitment and onboarding, a clinical leadership council and thorough documentation for all patient consultations and appointments. Another critical consideration is how potential teleneurology partners match each patient with a neurologist that fits their unique needs.

A teleneurology partner often has live dispatchers who can prioritize cases and assign them to the individual physician. Otherwise, a partner may employ innovative technology and algorithms to match patients with neurologists. Ensuring a teleneurologist partner has a designated point of contact for your organization is critical.

4. Financial and Reporting Services: High-quality practice management includes additional services, such as a peer review program, recruitment and onboarding, a clinical leadership council and thorough documentation for all patient consultations and appointments. Another critical consideration is how potential teleneurology partners match each patient with a neurologist that fits their unique needs.

A teleneurology partner often has live dispatchers who can prioritize cases and assign them to the individual physician. Otherwise, a partner may employ innovative technology and algorithms to match patients with neurologists. Ensuring a teleneurologist partner has a designated point of contact for your organization is critical.

5. Accreditations and Certifications: A company’s certifications and accreditations are another consideration when comparing teleneurologists. Notably, you can look for third parties that have developed extensive accreditation criteria for medical services. In addition to third-party accreditations, make sure the teleneurologist platform itself has earned the appropriate certification.

The program must also meet and exceed all security and privacy standards required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). A teleneurologist partner should have superior clinical and practice management skills and ensure all neurologists are board-certified and trained in their unique specialties.

TeleStroke: TeleStroke is an innovative service that allows suspected stroke patients to meet with a neurologist over video to examine symptoms. With TeleStroke, physicians can effectively and efficiently evaluate and treat patients to improve a facility’s overall response time and the level of care a patient receives. TeleSpecialists strives to pair our neurologists with your hospital’s stroke and neurological team to respond to patient needs quickly.

Our TeleStroke alert services allow rapid assessment, evaluation, and treatment times for stroke patients. Pre-arrival stroke alert notifications also allow emergency medical staff to mobilize and contact us, so a neurologist is available as soon as the patient gets to your facility. We strive to minimize the overall time a patient spends waiting for neurological attention, as every second is of the essence for stroke patients.

Strokes are a prevalent condition, with approximately 795,000 people in the United States having a stroke each year. Of these strokes, about 610,000 are first or new strokes. When a person experiences a stroke, time is valuable. The sooner a patient can meet with a neurologist the more likely their treatment will succeed.

TeleNeuroHospitalist Rounding: TeleNeuroHospitalist Rounding is a service to provide follow-up appointments for stroke patients who require continuing, non-emergent consultations. TeleNeurologists can efficiently and conveniently round on patients in your facility’s inpatient setting to analyze, assess and address numerous neurological symptoms.

A neurologist may address various symptoms during an appointment, including migraines, dizziness, vertigo, seizures, metabolic encephalopathy and more. TeleNeuroHospitalist Rounding services involve an on-site party to manage the rounds with a TeleMedicine cart and our constituent neurologists. When a neurologist updates or enters an order, this information will go directly to your facility’s existing EMR.

TeleEEG: In addition to our TeleStroke and TeleNeuroHospitalist Rounding services, we are also proud to offer TeleEEG, an electroencephalogram interpretation service using telemedicine. Our experienced neurologists can analyze and interpret EEGs for patients to help your staff improve its internal capacity and achieve quality, consistent EEG turnaround times.

Our program provides daily access to TeleNeurologists to assess reads for routine, stat and long-term EEGs. TeleEEG can also work in tandem with your facility’s existing electronic medical record system. All EEG interpretations and reads take place promptly according to all regulations and bylaws.

Delegated Credentialing: We have developed our delegated credentialing services to expedite service implementations while promoting consistent, high-quality processing capabilities and reducing overall turnaround time. We are proud to offer this service at a competitive price to other external credentialing companies. We’ll assign your health care facility a credentialing liaison who will work with your facility’s team to establish and meet all expectations.

At TeleSpecialists, we will customize all physician credentialing packets to your facility’s unique needs and submit them to our partners completed and ready for board approval. For an established physician, we can even create and provide a packet with as little as a 24-hour turnaround time. We will not bill for credentialing packets until the board approves our physician.