Developing a strategy for using telehealth for men’s health care
A strong telehealth strategy starts with the services your patients need most, the technology they can use, and a clear plan for when to use telehealth.
On this page:
Choosing the right care model
Decide which men’s health services can be virtual, which should be hybrid, and which must be in person. Hybrid care combines telehealth and in-person care. It can be useful when a patient needs a physical exam, labs, or a procedure, but can complete follow-up virtually. Consider these steps:
- Start with the patient’s reason for the visit. Identify whether the patient needs preventive care, follow-up care, symptom review, medication management, behavioral health care, sexual health care, or chronic disease care.
- Match the visit type to the care that is needed. Telehealth may be a good option for reviewing results, checking symptoms, managing medications, setting health goals, and supporting follow-up care. Schedule an in-person visit when the patient needs a physical exam, lab test, imaging, or procedure.
- Consider the patient’s preference. When clinically appropriate, offer the visit type that works best for the patient. Audio-only visits may help patients who do not have video access or reliable broadband.
Tip: Have a backup plan for technology problems. This may include calling the patient, rescheduling, moving to an in-person visit, or sending the patient to urgent or emergency care when necessary.
Technology considerations
A range of technologies and tools can be effective for delivering virtual health care for men. This includes using telehealth to assess, monitor, communicate, and support access to care. Consider these technology options:
- Video visits. Live audio-video visits can help with issues that benefit from face-to-face communication, such as mental health, sexual health, and medication counseling, as well as chronic disease follow-up.
- Audio-only visits. Phone visits may be an option when video is unavailable or when a patient does not have reliable internet access.
- Secure messaging and patient portals. These tools can help providers share instructions, lab results, and follow-up plans, and answer patients’ questions.
- Remote patient monitoring devices. Devices such as blood pressure monitors, glucose meters, pulse oximeters, wireless scales, and heart rate monitors can support chronic disease care.
- Mobile health apps. Apps can help patients with reminders, education, symptom tracking, activity goals, and medication routines.
- Digital screening tools. Validated questionnaires and symptom checklists can support screening for depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, sexual health problems, urinary symptoms, and chronic disease risks.
- Wearable devices. Patient-reported device data may support the care plan when it shows trends in blood pressure, activity, sleep, or heart rate.
Tip: When selecting the technology, review usability, reliability, privacy, security, and electronic health record (EHR) integration. The product should be easy for patients and staff to use.
Triage and patient safety
It is important to assess symptoms, determine the level of care required, anticipate risks, and determine when to escalate care or refer a patient to a specialist. Use a standard triage process for men’s health telehealth visits. Consider these steps:
- Confirm the patient’s name, date of birth, location, phone number, and emergency contact.
- Confirm consent for telehealth.
- Ask about their main concern, symptoms, medications, and allergies.
- Screen for urgent symptoms.
- Follow escalation protocols for emergency, urgent, or in-person care.
- Document referrals, follow-up steps, and patient instructions.
Tip: Create protocols for symptoms that should not be managed by telehealth alone. Examples include chest pain, shortness of breath, stroke symptoms, severe pain, or severe mental health symptoms. Include emergency planning in your workflow.
Access and support considerations
Patients may have barriers that make telehealth harder to use. These hurdles may include limited broadband, limited device access, low health literacy, disabilities, privacy concerns, or less experience with technology. Plan for barriers before launching or expanding men’s health telehealth services:
- Offer simple instructions.
- Complete a practice run or technology check before the visit.
- Help patients find a private place for the visit.
- Ask whether the patient wants a caregiver or support person to join the visit.
Optimizing telehealth for men’s health
Effective use of telehealth depends on choosing appropriate technology, ensuring privacy and security, preparing patients and providers, and clearly defining when virtual care is clinically appropriate. Considerations include:
- Clinical workflow. Create a workflow for before, during, and after the visit. Include scheduling, check-in, consent, triage, documentation, billing, referrals, and follow-up.
- Staffing and training. Train staff on the platform, privacy, patient support, triage, documentation, and backup plans. Identify a telehealth lead who can answer questions and support staff.
- Patient support. Make sure patients know how to join the visit, what to expect, what information to have on hand, and how to get help if the technology does not work.
- Quality and patient safety. Track measures that show whether telehealth is working well. Examples include completed visits, missed visits, patient wait time, time to follow-up, referral completion, remote patient monitoring review, and patient experience. For chronic disease care, track measures that match the condition and the care plan, such as blood pressure, A1C, weight trend, or medication adherence.
More information:
Getting started with telehealth — Health Resources and Services Administration
Planning your telehealth workflow — Health Resources and Services Administration
Preparing patients for telehealth — Health Resources and Services Administration
Using telehealth in hybrid care — Health Resources and Services Administration