Review the Capstone Proposal Template. You will be completing the Quality, Risk Assessment, Governance, Organization, and Marketing sections in this assignment. Address the following sections in 1,

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MHA CAPSTONE PROPOSAL

Expansion on Telehealth at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital

J. Doe

University of Phoenix

MHA/599: Capstone: Leading the Organization Through Change

Dr. Coralene Quimby-Worrell

May 2025

In response to growing healthcare access disparities and the need for innovative care delivery models, this capstone project proposes a comprehensive business development strategy to expand telehealth services at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital. The initiative aims to address critical operational challenges, including reducing avoidable emergency room visits, minimizing patient no-shows, and enhancing care access for older adults and individuals in rural or underserved areas. By leveraging strategic partnerships with local insurance providers, healthcare professionals, and telehealth technology vendors, the project seeks to improve digital access to both primary and specialty care. Furthermore, it prioritizes compliance with CMS telemedicine reimbursement guidelines, cost-effective care delivery, and elevated patient satisfaction. This proposal aligns with Dallas Presbyterian’s long-term vision of delivering affordable, accessible, and technologically advanced healthcare solutions.

The plan to create a business development strategy and expand telehealth services at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital is the main focus of my Capstone project. The initiative addresses important challenges such as reducing non-essential visits to the ER, reducing no-show appointments, and improving access to the healthcare system for older and rural populations.
The purpose is to create a complete strategy that improves digital access to primary and specialty care. Those who live in underserved areas with limited options for in-person care, have older age, or limited mobility, are among the target groups. The purpose of this project is to guarantee compliance with CMS guidelines for telemedicine reimbursement, improve patient satisfaction, and reduce the cost of providing care.
We will work with local insurance companies, health professionals, and telehealth vendors to meet these goals. Through these collaborations, Dallas Presbyterian will be able to improve the visibility of digital health services, guarantee a successful rollout, and complete a steady integration with current hospital operations. The scheme is in line with the long-term goal of the hospital to innovate and provide access to affordable, technologically advanced health services.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths: We’ve got a lot going for us. The hospital’s got a great reputation—people trust us, and that’s huge. Our IT systems are already in a good spot to handle this kind of digital upgrade. Plus, we have a talented team of healthcare pros ready to make telehealth work and keep it running smoothly.

Weaknesses: That said, there are some hurdles. A lot of our older patients aren’t super tech-savvy, which could make it tough for them to jump on board with telehealth. The upfront costs for new tech and training staff are pretty steep, too. And let’s be real—some of our team might push back on changing how things are done, which could slow us down.

Opportunities: There’s a ton of potential here. CMS is expanding telehealth reimbursement policies, which is basically a green light for virtual care. People in rural and underserved areas are clamoring for remote healthcare options, and we’re in a prime spot to deliver. Teaming up with telehealth tech companies and insurers could really level up what we’re able to offer.

Threats: Of course, there are risks keeping an eye on. Because no one wants their data to be compromised, cybersecurity is important. We also have to stay on top of HIPAA rules to avoid any trouble. Plus, virtual-first clinics are popping up everywhere, and the rules around telehealth funding can be a bit of a wild card, which might make things tricky down the road.

This project uses the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) strategic planning tool to inform the implementation and sustainability of the telehealth expansion. For example, the Balanced Scorecard makes the hospital’s long term mission concrete by making them actionable goals that span four key perspectives, financial, customer, internal processes and learning and growth (Mio et al., 2022).

The telehealth initiative is financially sustainable, as it will reduce unnecessary emergency room visits, increase provider efficiency and help mitigate capital expense through grants and strategic partnerships. Though the first year may not be exactly break even, long term, cost containment will improve and revenue opportunities will open with value based contracts.

The strategy is from a customer perspective, patient accessible, satisfied and engaged. The aim is to expand to the elderly, to rural residents, people who have difficulty with mobility. Customer loyalty will be supported by metrics of satisfaction and their feedback to support improvement.

Instead, talking to your doctor via phone or the internet will involve internal processes aimed at streamlining virtual care workflows and HITRUST compliance while smoothly integrating content with your existing electronic health records (EHR). Virtual visit completion rates, average response times, system uptime and other metrics will be monitored to ensure we hit our marks as an operationally excellent business.

Employee training, technology adoption and cultural change are what the learning and growth perspective covers. Institutions will also offer hands­ on, cultural competency workshops, as well as ongoing support to benefit of the staff. The intent is to create a more confident, adaptable provider and administrative staff using tools to move to a hybrid based model of care.

Bashshur, R., Doarn, C. R., Frenk, J. M., Kvedar, J. C., & Woolliscroft, J. O. (2020). Telemedicine and the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons for the future. Telemedicine and e-Health, 26(5), 571–573. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2020.29040.rb
The function of telemedicine during the epidemic and its quick uptake are highlighted in this article. It highlights the need for reliable infrastructure and legal adjustments to support telehealth's future growth.
Dorsey, E. R., & Topol, E. J. (2020). Telemedicine 2020 and the next decade. The Lancet, 395(10227), 859. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30424-4
In order to future-proof healthcare delivery, this study highlights long-term trends in telemedicine and promotes proactive investment in virtual platforms.

Kruse, C. S., Krowski, N., Rodriguez, B., Tran, L., Vela, J., & Brooks, M. (2017). Telehealth and patient satisfaction: a systematic review and narrative analysis. BMJ Open, 7(8), e016242. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016242
The need of this expansion plan is further supported by a thorough assessment showing high levels of patient satisfaction with telehealth because of its accessibility, effectiveness, and convenience.

Uscher-Pines, L., Sousa, J., Raja, P., Mehrotra, A., Barnett, M., & Huskamp, H. A. (2020). Suddenly becoming a “virtual doctor”: Experiences of psychiatrists transitioning to telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatric Services, 71(11), 1143–1150. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202000250
Examines the shift of mental health practitioners to online platforms, highlighting obstacles and effective tactics related to Dallas Presbyterian's staff development and digital transformation.

The purpose of this Capstone project is to implement a structured, comprehensive plan for expanding telehealth services at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital. Several pressing challenges are addressed in this expansion and they include, disparities in healthcare access for vulnerable populations, avoidable emergency department utilization, and gaps in continuity of care for patients in rural and underserved regions. This initiative supports strategic goals related to innovation, affordability, and population health improvement as the hospital seeks to modernize in order to align with broader national healthcare priorities. This expansion also reflects the hospital’s long-term mission of offering equitable, high-quality care through accessible, patient-centered solutions.

The overall goal of this project it to enhance improve access to primary and specialized healthcare services through virtual care delivery to be particular among older adults, individuals with limited mobility, and patients in remote or medically underserved communities. During the first 12 months after deployment, the initial goal is to increase the use of virtual care by 35%. Reducing non-urgent emergency room visits by 20% is the second objective and this is through the use of tele-triage and video consultations during the same time frame. In order to ensure accountability and compatibility with Dallas Presbyterian's values and strategic plan, these goals are made to be both measurable and reachable.

Projects with a greater purpose—beyond financial gain or technological efficiency—have a much higher chance of succeeding, according to Nieto-Rodriguez (2021). He encourages a series of "why" questions until the fundamental goal is revealed. The deeper reason for this project is not merely to introduce telehealth capabilities but is to increase access to timely, patient-centered care that will improve population health and reduce long-term costs for both patients and the healthcare system.

The planned growth of telehealth will produce a number of important deliverables that guarantee both short-term operation and long-term viability. The most important of them is the establishment of a safe, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform that is completely linked with the hospital's current electronic health record (EHR) interface. Communication between patients and providers will be allowed by this platform since it enables comprehensive virtual visits, remote monitoring, and follow-up care. All clinical and administrative personnel involved in the provision of telehealth services will get comprehensive training modules from the project concurrently. Platform usage, virtual patient communication, regulatory compliance, and best practices for documentation will all be covered in these modules.

The patient-facing resources, including as instructional videos and multilingual manuals, are another deliverable that helps patients use the telehealth system. For those for whom English is not their first language or who have poor levels of computer literacy, these will be especially crucial. In addition, the hospital will create an outcomes dashboard in order to track performance indicators such as usage rates, patient satisfaction ratings, no-show decreases, and emergency department diversion metrics. When taken as a whole, these deliverables will guarantee the expansion's technical, strategic, and operational success.

Dallas Presbyterian Hospital's telemedicine service growth is a creative and enterprising endeavor. Innovation is reflected in the projects through the use of advanced technology to bridge gaps in care delivery, streamline provider workflows, and improve patient engagement. The project's approach, which involves partnering with outside technology providers and health insurance providers to reduce upfront expenses and increase scalability, incorporates entrepreneurial thinking. Additionally, these partnerships will allow co-investment in infrastructure development and value-based reimbursement plans.

Dorsey and Topol (2020) argue that telemedicine represents one of the most transformative trends in modern healthcare and they also claim that organizations investing in these models now will be better prepared to meet patient expectations over the next decade. This idea additionally aims to increase operational efficiency and create new revenue streams by utilizing underutilized resources, such as administrative space and provider downtime." The hospital will not only position itself in the quickly changing healthcare industry but also modernize its service delivery model.

The community will greatly benefit from this proposal, mostly the populations who have historically had limited access to consistent, high-quality healthcare. So many barriers’ patients face when attempting to access care will be eliminated through Dallas Presbyterian Hospital expanding telehealth services such as long travel times, mobility issues, and limited provider availability. This is particularly true for people who reside in rural areas, where they might not have access to transportation or reside in locations that have been classified as medically underserved. Moreover, elderly individuals and those with chronic illnesses will get frequent check-ins and proactive disease management that have been enabled by virtual care.

The critical part of delivering community value is through addressing cultural, linguistic, and technological barriers. Multilingual support, starting with English and Spanish, and availability to interpreters will be features of telehealth services. In order to account for varying levels of internet access, educational materials will be available in both digital and printed formats. Patients like telehealth services for their ease and capacity to alleviate logistical burdens, especially when efforts are made to enhance accessibility and communication (Kruse et al., 2017). This project is designed to intentionally meet those needs and maximize the community’s benefit.

The project will repurpose existing administrative office space into a centralized telehealth operations hub. And the area will house virtual consultation rooms equipped with soundproofing, secure internet access, and video conferencing equipment. A small area will be allocated to technical support staff and training sessions. Since no new development is required, the facility needs are minimal. However, infrastructure upgrades will include dedicated servers or cloud-based storage for telehealth data, improved Wi-Fi coverage, and additional cybersecurity layers to ensure data protection.

The telehealth initiative's implementation needs to comply with a number of important governmental and regulatory requirements. The project will adhere to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) telemedicine reimbursement guidelines, which have been developed to promote virtual care, especially in underserved areas. Additionally, it will be in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which requires that patient health information be handled securely when visiting virtually. In addition, telehealth service providers need to be licensed in Texas and follow the rules established by the Texas Medical Board.

The COVID-19 pandemic hastened the regulatory adoption of telehealth and encouraged providers to be aware of evolving reimbursement schemes (Bashshur et al., 2020). At Dallas Presbyterian, internal legal counsel and compliance officers will work with clinical teams in order to ensure that licensing, documentation, and billing procedures comply with all relevant legal requirements. This includes updates to clinical policies and provider credentialing processes.

Technology forms the basis of the implementation approach for this project. A secure, cloud-based telehealth technology that seamlessly connects to the current EHR will be implemented by the hospital. Clinicians making virtual visits will have access to additional hardware, such as dual monitors, headsets, and HD webcams. A user-friendly web portal and mobile app will be among the patient-facing tools, enabling users to make appointments, participate in virtual consultations, and access educational resources.

Making decisions and keeping track of performance are roles that will be played by the data analytics. Patients’ outcomes, satisfaction, and cost savings will be tracked by real-time dashboards. For enterprises looking to grow and prove their worth to payers and regulatory bodies, data-informed telehealth systems are essential, as stated by Dorsey and Topol (2020).

The expansion of telehealth depends on staffing. A single full-time program director who will be in charge of supervision and assessment must be hired and trained for the project. Three primary care physicians and two specialty providers will be included by the clinical staffing and their work will be to rotate virtual appointments with in-person care. Additionally, four registered nurses will help with patient education, follow-up care, and remote triage. Scheduling, technical assistance, and documentation will be managed by three administrative employees.

Estimated patient demand and industry-recommended ratios for virtual care delivery are used to determine staffing levels. When transferring professionals to telehealth, Uscher-Pines et al. (2020) stress the significance of thorough training. As a result, Dallas Presbyterian will offer onboarding courses that address culturally sensitive care, telemedicine protocol, platform usage, and legal compliance. Ongoing performance evaluations will be based on patient satisfaction scores, adherence to protocols, and clinical outcomes.

Expanding telehealth at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital is more than a tech upgrade; it represents a transformation in how we approach healthcare delivery. It shifts the focus from traditional in-person visits to smarter, more accessible, and flexible care that aligns with the expectations of modern patients. This change is not just operational but also cultural and systemic. The goal is to reimagine care for individuals who have historically been underserved, such as older adults, rural residents, and those facing logistical barriers to in-person care. Telehealth bridges those gaps and enables care that is timely, digital, and patient-centered (Dorsey & Topol, 2020). It also positions the hospital to stay competitive in an increasingly virtual healthcare environment. This initiative supports Dallas Presbyterian’s mission by delivering accessible, equitable, and high-quality care, while preparing the organization for a future where virtual health is an essential standard of care. There will be a plan to organize departmental trainings, in phases, to ensure everyone is in consensus when implementing these new transitions. I will begin with departments that will use telehealth the most, and then expand to others. All trainings will be customized to each department’s role.

Implementing telehealth at scale requires a strong and proactive change management approach. To guide the transition, the project will follow Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model, which includes creating urgency, forming a powerful coalition, and generating short-term wins to build momentum (Kotter, 2012). The strategy focuses on engaging all stakeholders—clinicians, administrators, IT teams, and patients—through a structured rollout. Some staff may feel unsure about using new technology or concerned about losing the personal touch in patient care. To address this, the hospital will provide hands-on training, mentorship opportunities, and clear communication to build trust and competence. Research by Uscher-Pines et al. (2020) showed that mental health professionals who received structured support were more confident when transitioning to telemedicine during the pandemic. That insight informs this project’s emphasis on preparation, responsiveness, and inclusivity in managing change.

Culture plays a critical role in how well any innovation is adopted. At Dallas Presbyterian, a culture of innovation, adaptability, and collaboration already exists and will serve as the foundation for this initiative’s success. This project reinforces that culture by emphasizing open dialogue, shared goals, and professional growth. Staff will be encouraged to ask questions, offer feedback, and engage with new workflows in a supportive environment. Leadership will model this mindset by embracing telehealth and reinforcing how it aligns with the organization’s mission. According to the American Hospital Association (2022), hospitals that align innovation with their core values tend to see greater buy-in and better outcomes. The project also prioritizes inclusivity and equity. Support will be provided to help patients and staff with varying levels of digital literacy and comfort with technology. These cultural considerations ensure that the transition to telehealth is thoughtful, human-centered, and sustainable.

Facilitation and Communication

Clear, consistent communication is key to making this project successful. The hospital will implement a communication strategy that includes newsletters, team huddles, live trainings, and digital updates to keep everyone informed and aligned with the project goals. Staff will have opportunities to provide feedback throughout the rollout, and their input will shape ongoing improvements. Interdisciplinary workgroups will help coordinate tasks, ensure representation across departments, and avoid siloed decision-making. For patients, Dallas Presbyterian will offer multilingual educational resources, instructional videos, and access to support services. These efforts aim to make telehealth easy to understand and use, especially for those unfamiliar with digital tools. As Nieto-Rodriguez (2021) explains, when teams understand the deeper purpose behind a project and feel involved in the process, engagement and long-term success are more likely. By prioritizing honest dialogue, inclusive facilitation, and shared ownership, this project ensures that communication supports both implementation and long-term growth.

Budget and Financials

Ensuring telehealth expansion is financially stable at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital needs careful study of investment costs, hospital costs and future revenue. This analysis forecasts funds usage in the first year and forms the base for the program’s lasting success. The financial model uses industry-standard data for telehealth, regional wage details and the Medicare payment rates to make sure the results are close to real life. The budget plan considers introducing the program gradually, as more patients start to participate when the program becomes better known.

The financial projection for capital spending shows what is important to set up a complete telehealth program. Items for patient use in intensive care units are high-definition cameras, medical-grade monitors, diagnostic devices and carts for telehealth consultations. Equipment for the hub includes desks, chairs and tablets for telehealth, along with materials that deaden sound and provide comfort for providers. The main areas where capital is invested are complex information technology systems such as telehealth, cybersecurity, server hardware and software for integrating electronic health records. Based on the traditional five years cycle for technology in healthcare, this also breaks down the agreed upon cost into per year expenses.

Determine how many physicians, nurses, and staff are needed to operate the program in the second column and enter their annual salary in the third column.

Complete the table by multiplying the number of staff by the annual salary projection of those positions to obtain the total salary projection in the fourth column.

Calculate the totals for the number of staff, annual salary projection, and total salary projection at the end of each column.

Estimates of how many patients could be taken by each telehealth provider are put into an estimated number of staff based on industry averages as to how many patients per provider or care team. The daily tasks will be executed by the director of the program in charge, he will be the one planning the future of the organization and measuring its quality. Salaries for these physicians show how much the market pays for experienced doctors, as the team of five split time between treating patients virtually and in person. They will be guided in their patients by registered nurses, who will also organize ongoing care and will provide teaching. Administrators will allocate scheduling tasks, provide technical assistance and will facilitate document production.

Benefits are calculated using standard healthcare guidelines and make up 25% of employees’ salaries. This requires offering health coverage, retirement support, coverage for learning courses, help with professional development and tax contributions. Offering a good set of benefits is important for persuading and keeping skilled healthcare professionals in the telehealth industry. Extra parts to think about are ensuring appropriate malpractice insurance and giving technology training for staff as they use telehealth services.

Operating expenses are the ongoing fees needed to sustain a good telehealth program. The costs of a facility cover updates to the space and its monthly running costs. Supply inventory is made up of consumables, equipment for maintenance and materials to teach patients. The IT support and backup team are provided by contract services during the most crowded times. Among other things, licensing includes costs for software updates, certification and following governing regulations. Making sure staff are trained and educated helps them do their jobs well and want to improve. Part of technology maintenance is updating platforms, handling cybersecurity and maintaining equipment. Part of running an effective marketing campaign means supporting education for providers, reaching out to patients and informing the whole community.

These estimates use a conservative number of 4,200 annual telehealth visits, assuming each visit brings an average net reimbursement of $125, including various types of payers. Our contract services revenue comes from consultations and telehealth training that we give other healthcare organizations. Organizational funding shows Dallas Presbyterian’s dedication to helping the program start properly in the early stages. Federal grants focus on expanding telehealth and the state also has rural health funding. In partnership funding, insurance companies and technology partners help with costs because joining the program helps them, too. When doing patient revenue calculations, we include the rates set by CMS for telehealth, contracts with private health insurance groups and a limited amount from patient out-of-pocket payments.

Total Annual Expense Projections

The projected costs for all expenses throughout the year are $2,489,750, showing a serious but affordable investment to make telehealth happen. Healthcare’s main expense comes from its workforce due to the requirement for many qualified staff to provide safe and good service to patients. Depreciating capital is a safe way to recover the investment you put into technology. These costs are taken out to keep the infrastructure needed to deliver secure and reliably working telehealth services. And the company has structured its expenses to fit industry benchmarks of the same kind of telehealth project and to be able to grow in a sustainable way.

Dallas Presbyterian’s telehealth expansion is expected to generate an extra $135,250 in the first year, with income of $2,625,000 higher than expenses of $2,489,750. Being surplus to 5.4%, the program can proceed forward with confidence that it can be sustainable beyond its launch point. The analysis shows that the program will have to make at least 19,918 annual patient visits, given a $125 per visit reimbursement rate and operate throughout the whole 365 days of the year to have at least 55 visits daily.

Conservative volume predictions were used in the assessment due to the normal course that new telehealth programs take to become fully operational in a year. Based on market research, successful telehealth systems tend to grow by 20-30% every year after launch, indicating there is much room for greater earnings and financial growth. The strength of the program’s finances comes from its many sources of income which reduce the need for patient visits alone and make operations more stable in unusual situations.

Some strategic actions can be taken to support sustainability and profitability once ongoing, based on the market’s response and based upon what is learned through operations. For more patients to come, the organization could focus on marketing in underrepresented communities, build better provider networks and join in partnerships with rural health centers that lack specific expertise. With proper outreach and more services, it is estimated that 4,200 visitors per year could become 6,000-7,000 by year two, leading to about $225,000-$475,000 of new annual profit.

Another way to enhance finances is with staffing optimization such as flexible scheduling, for example, helps you scale down fixed costs during slow times but still be able to have the staff to keep things rolling during busy and future periods. Some additional revenue streams are found by adding remote patient monitoring, extended chronic disease care and mental health services, as these are highly financed and often in high demand by patients. Because the program started with strong funds, it has the flexibility to keep getting better, add modern technology and focus on growing services which helps its long-term achievements and helps it stand out from competitors in telehealth.

Assuring quality forms a key basis for the telehealth expansion and it is necessary to secure the best clinical results and patient safety. The program will apply quality indicators based on evidence and in line with countrywide telehealth standards which measure clinical results, what patients think, compliance with standards among health providers and the functionality of technology. Important indicators will focus on how long patients will wait for a consultation, the number of appointments they attend, how complete medical records are and how well follow-up care is arranged (Kruse et al., 2017). The framework will require routinely checking the quality of virtual consultations, making sure that providers of telehealth are assessed and regularly monitoring safety issues experienced by patients, all to identify chances for efficiency and continue meeting standards.

Special rules will be put in place so people can know when it is an emergency and they need to get help quickly, when a patient needs to come in for an in person visit and the rules for how medication and prescriptions will be handled securely. Clinical pathways will be designed for all routine telehealth encounters with the same quality of care for all patients, in keeping with the patient's needs. The efforts will depend on data for finding trends, comparing performance with industry measures and taking intentional steps to improve the care patients receive.

Quality assurance will be sustained by regularly training clinical staff, including them in established quality projects at the hospital and by working together with organizations outside the hospital to keep up best practices. The program will include specific standards for success including patient satisfaction ratings greater than 90%, matched clinical outcomes to in person care and incrementally improved care continuity for target groups.

Several important risk areas threaten the prosperity of telehealth expansion and thus necessary steps must be taken to address them. Technical risks that happen most often include cyber-attacks, times when servers or systems are unavailable, information inappropriately revealed and software not usable with healthcare platforms which could be damaging for patients and against HIPAA requirements. Problems with how patients are diagnosed remotely could lead to issues in clinical care such as seeing patients late for important emergencies, trying to treat complex cases over video and so on. Among the financial risks are fewer patients than estimated, changes in how much insurance companies reimburse, higher technology expenses than planned and threats to revenues and programs from established telehealth services.

Understanding state requirements for provider’s state to state and watching for changes on CMS policies are all very real challenges facing the industry as provider telehealth payment rules come through. Among the operational risks are workers not wanting to use technology, patients being unhappy with virtual care experiences, issues dealing with technical support and problems linking up with the current systems at the hospital. Concerns from the market include shifts in what patients like, fierce struggles from large national companies and the likelihood of a saturated local market for telehealth.

Steps to cut risk will have good online safety steps checked a lot, worker training in top ways, strong backup methods, wide plans for big problems, and firm ties with tech partners for non-stop help. Financial risk control will depend on having diverse types of income, estimating volumes cautiously and having adaptable teams. Keeping an eye on new rules, auditing the program, consulting lawyers and giving the staff and patients all necessary training will help address problems that may arise.

Within this system of governance will be introduced accountability, alignment to strategy and effective running of operations that will fit with the existing structure of Dallas Presbyterian Hospital. Under executive oversight, the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Financial Officer and the Telehealth Program Director, as members of the Steering Committee, meet once a month to discuss performance, deal with challenges and make decisions important to Telehealth. This committee provides quarterly information to the hospital's Board of Directors to ensure that its operation is in concert with school goals and helps everyone understand financial performance.

A Telehealth Operations Committee will direct running operations and the weekly meeting of clinical directors, IT managers, quality staff and patient experience team members will deal with day to day issues as well as analyze key performance indicators and introduce any necessary changes. The Program Director will handle regular decisions for the organization, but policy changes, important investments and plans for more services will require review and agreement by the committee. But the program will also have monthly performance checks, financial audits and regular compliance checks to make sure it remains strong and only grows stronger.

Governance systems from telehealth program will be integrated into the current clinical system with telehealth standards following as those in place with in person treatments and adding those that only telehealth services have to offer. The program will rely on routine reporting to assess important performance factors, patient results, the happiness of health providers and financial figures. Quarterly reviews should guide adjustments to strategy and an extensive review every year will steer decisions on resources used for the program’s ongoing development.

The telehealth program will exist as its own service line in the organization, under the direct supervision of the Chief Medical Officer while teaming up with Information Technology, Quality Assurance, Patient Experience and Finance. The program will work using a matrix model, making sure the hospital’s main resources are used and dedicated teams are allocated to provide specialized assistance in virtual care.

Telehealth providers will hold multiple roles for telemedicine and traditional procedures in order to keep operations continuous and flexible. People will reach out to the telehealth hub to make dates, get help with tech, and find out more. Yet, that info won't go to the hospital's system. This is where they handle and log all the billing. When patient volumes rise and new chances appear, the structure of the organization will ease its expansion.

It will be important to create service level agreements and outline a regular contact plan, so that telehealth gets support from IT for technical problems, Finance for proper billing and reimbursements and Quality Assurance for monitoring compliance and making improvements. The organization’s flexible design allows the program to move with the changes of the market, rules and technology, while still having a direct connection to the primary mission and values of the hospital.

This will be the marketing strategy for the expansion of the telehealth, through targeted outreach to underserved population, healthcare provider’s healthcare partner’s community partners to maximize awareness and arising patient growth volume. Partnerships with senior centers, rural health clinics and community groups serving the older adult, rural resident and people with mobility limitation populations will be used to reach these groups as the primary focus of primary marketing efforts. Through search engine optimization, social media marketing and email marketing, tech savvy patients will be reached, while traditional materials like print, radio ads and communicating in the community will appeal to patients that are less conversant with digital marketing.

Our marketing will rely on working with insurance agencies, inviting more doctors to interact with our system and helping community health organizations reach people who do not regularly access healthcare. To convince people of the value of virtual care, we will feature both patient stories and informative material, addressing those concerns people have about telehealth. Marketing money will be divided among several ways to reach and affect the audience and progress is monitored to improve effectiveness and find the best options.

Marketing achievement will rely on patient acquisition details, monitoring which sources people are using to refer and progress in the chosen target markets, with continuous improvement of content and channels using responses and what patients say. The marketing plan will emphasize how simple and available telehealth is and showcase its top quality, helping anyone in Dallas Presbyterian stay at the top of new healthcare practices.

References

American Hospital Association. (2022). Telehealth: A Path to Virtual Integrated Care. Retrieved from https://www.aha.org/telehealth

Bashshur, R., Doarn, C. R., Frenk, J. M., Kvedar, J. C., & Woolliscroft, J. O. (2020). Telemedicine and the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons for the future. Telemedicine and e-Health, 26(5), 571–573. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2020.29040.rb

Dorsey, E. R., & Topol, E. J. (2020). Telemedicine 2020 and the next decade. The Lancet, 395(10227), 859. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30424-4

Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Harvard Business Review Press.

Nieto-Rodriguez, A. (2021, October 11). Does your project have a purpose? Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/10/does-your-project-have-a-purpose

Kruse, C. S., Krowski, N., Rodriguez, B., Tran, L., Vela, J., & Brooks, M. (2017). Telehealth and patient satisfaction: A systematic review and narrative analysis. BMJ Open, 7(8), e016242. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016242

Nieto-Rodriguez, A. (2021, October 11). Does your project have a purpose? Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/10/does-your-project-have-a-purpose

Uscher-Pines, L., Sousa, J., Raja, P., Mehrotra, A., Barnett, M., & Huskamp, H. A. (2020). Suddenly becoming a “virtual doctor”: Experiences of psychiatrists transitioning to telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatric Services, 71(11), 1143–1150. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202000250

Mio, C., Costantini, A., & Panfilo, S. (2022). Performance measurement tools for sustainable business: A systematic literature review on the sustainability balanced scorecard use. Corporate social responsibility and environmental management, 29(2), 367-384.