Unfortunately, not all of us can build our own virtual telehealth practice. Here is the list of specialists who can’t do telemedicine:
- Trauma surgeon
- Anesthesiologist
- Interventional radiologist
- Transplant hepatology
- Endovascular surgical neuroradiology
Sorry, I know it’s heartbreaking, but you trauma surgeons will just have to keep seeing patients in person. The good news is that the rest of you can build your own virtual clinics, including:
- Toxicology
- EM
- Pathology
- Palliative Care
- Radiation Oncology
- Pathology
- Child neurology
- Gyn onc
- OB
- Endocrinology
- Vascular Surgery
- Cardiology
- Radiology
- Ortho
- ENT
- Allergy/Imm
- …
Ultra-Niche Virtual Clinics
The trend in healthcare these days is specialty virtual care. Imagine you had a pathology report given to you, and now you need a second opinion; it’s a nightmare trying to do that in person and even harder when trying to do it out-of-network.
I certainly would consider focusing on one niche, some ultra-niche, before giving up on my specialty altogether. As a family medicine doctor, obviously, I have a lot more broad knowledge, so all I need to do is just increase my depth.
Practicing Virtually
I agree that the market isn’t there yet, but it’s growing. People are sicker than ever before, especially with chronic diseases. At the same time, they are searching for health solutions online more than ever before.
Having an online practice, whether it’s lifestyle medicine, oncology, dermatology, neurology, or orthopedics, is possible because the majority of what people need right now is access.
They need to know whether their chronic back pain needs surgery or if they can just take your low-back pain course for 8 weeks to assess their improvement.
Patients want to know if their psoriasis has any hope of resolving or if their acne can get better without needing to resort to Accutane.
Second Medical Opinions
The space of second medical opinions is growing rapidly. Mrs. Smith is no longer convinced that her insurance-based neurologist has her best interest in mind when she’s constantly having her medication for her NPH switched and chasing down insurance coverage.
A patient is about to have cervical fusion and is wondering if this is necessary or the best way forward to improve his pain. Mr. Cohen has already had lumbar surgery, and his pain is unchanged. If only there were a spine surgeon online who was only doing second medical opinions without the bias of doing surgery.
Health Coaching
Many clinicians are bored with medicine – assessing, treating, prescribing – the same damn meds for the same damn patients. They love chatting, connecting, and educating their patients.
Honestly, that’s not as much my cup of tea, yet I’m sort of doing that in my Heart Health Coaching – it’s much better than refilling insulin pens for my diabetics.
You can coach people 1:1 or in groups. You can also create standalone courses where you can still interact with people during live office hours.
Interested?
Get started now – build your virtual medical practice online, even if you may never use it. Build it now because one day you wish you had.
Just the practice of building your own telehealth clinic will teach you a lot about building a business, organization, legal matters, business structures, writing, creating content, and connecting with potential customers through marketing.
Option 1: DIY it. There are lots of great online channels for you to research the hell out of starting your own telemedicine practice.
Option 2: And obviously the BEST option, take my brand spanking new online course, 8 Weeks To Building Your Own Virtual Medical Practice.
Of course, I am kidding – I have no idea what the best option is for you. Sometimes, the DIY is the best way because you’ll have more skin in the game. But having all the information at your fingertips from someone who built their own practice is also valuable.