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Overview of the Travel Health Program
With over hundreds of thousands of visits completed annually, Telemed MD is a well-established virtual care platform with the mission to provide Canadians with access to excellent care. As travel demand surges amongst Canadians and access to primary care regresses, we have partnered with Telemed MD to streamline travel health services for patients. After a travel consultation, pharmacists can submit a form to Telemed MD doctors, who will assess the request and, if deemed clinically appropriate, provide the necessary prescriptions via fax within 10 minutes. This Travel Health Program enables pharmacists to administer travel vaccinations and relevant therapeutics all in a single visit, becoming a one-stop-shop for travel health within their communities.
Benefits for Pharmacists
As the travel season approaches, there's a growing opportunity for pharmacies to step beyond their traditional roles as drug dispensaries and embrace comprehensive health services. By integrating the travel health program by Telemed MD, you can diversify your offerings beyond travel consultations and position your pharmacy as a critical health resource in your community. Here are five benefits of the Travel Health Program for pharmacists:
Enhanced Patient Experience: Incorporating the Travel Health Program provides convenience and positions your pharmacy as the community hub for all travel health needs, allowing patients to receive travel consultations, vaccinations, and all relevant therapeutics in a single visit.
Increased revenue streams: Launching the Travel Health Program will result in an increase in travel consultation payment volume and additional dispensing revenue generated from travel therapeutics. On average, each travel health consultation results in ~3 vaccinations/prescriptions to be dispensed.
In the near future, this partnership will extend beyond travel health to include services which are currently considered ‘beyond the pharmacist scope’ such as strep throat testing.
Extended Service Hours: With physicians available from 9 AM to 8 PM, seven days a week, you can offer flexible travel consultation and vaccine administration to your patients.
Drives Foot Traffic: As travel season approaches and more patients are searching for travel advice, this program will draw more patients to your pharmacy and strengthen existing relationships
Enhanced Professional knowledge: Telemed MD expands on pharmacist’s existing travel health knowledge by providing them with up to date resources on the latest travel health guidelines, best practices, and access to experts in the field.
Benefits for Patients
This partnership between Telemed MD and MedMe brings a range of benefits to patients, ensuring they receive comprehensive, timely, and personalized travel care. Some of these benefits include:
Access to Timely Travel Care: The partnership between Telemed MD and MedMe provides patients with timely access to travel health education, advice on preventing travel-related illnesses, and therapeutics all in one visit. This program ultimately enables quick administration of travel vaccinations and medications, bypassing the delays associated with primary physicians and prescription transfers.
Convenience for Patients Without a Family Physician: The partnership offers an affordable and convenient solution for patients without a family physician, ensuring they still receive the necessary travel health services.
Convenient Access to Expert Advice: Through Telemed MD’s telehealth capabilities, patients can easily access expert advice from both pharmacists and doctors, making the pharmacy an extremely convenient access point of health care.
Personalized Health Recommendations: Patients receive health recommendations tailored to their specific travel destinations, ensuring they are well-prepared for their trips.
Safety and Peace of Mind: By receiving expert health advice and necessary vaccinations before their trip, patients can travel with greater confidence and peace of mind, knowing they are well-protected against potential health risks.
Ongoing Health Monitoring: With Telemed MD's recommendations and MedMe's scheduling capabilities, patients benefit from additional consultations and follow-ups as needed, ensuring continuous health support before, during, and after their travels
Workflow for Using the Travel Health Program
Pre-Consult
Patient fills out intake form on MedMe answering questions about their travel itinerary and medical history via the MedMe platform. This streamlined intake process saves pharmacist time through gathering necessary patient information upfront.
In-Store
Pharmacist reviews completed intake form to understand the patient’s travel destination, past medical history, and specific health concerns.
Pharmacist conducts a detailed consultation with the patient, discussing their travel plans, potential health risks, preventative measures, and necessary vaccinations or medications.
Pharmacist faxes recommendations to Telemed MD based on the travel consultation. (Note: Currently, this involves printing and faxing the recommendation; eFax capabilities will be available soon.)
Telemed MD reviews documentation including an assessment form highlighting pharmacist recommendations.
After evaluating the information, Telemed MD doctor faxes back prescriptions for approved medications or vaccinations to the pharmacy within 10 minutes if clinically deemed necessary.
Pharmacist dispenses medications and administers necessary vaccines.
Post-Consult
Pharmacist schedules follow-up appointments as required to monitor the patient’s health and ensure ongoing care, utilizing MedMe’s scheduling capabilities.
Launching the Travel Health Program at Your Pharmacy
MedMe pharmacies can easily launch the Travel Health Program by submitting the interest form below. A member of our team will then reach out to integrate the Telemed MD Travel Consult appointment forms into your existing MedMe system. Telemed MD charges $40 per consult, which can be paid by the pharmacy or deferred to the patient by the pharmacist.
After launching the travel health program, you can utilize both traditional and digital advertising strategies to market the program and inform your patients about this new offering. Here are some approaches to consider:
Social Media Campaigns & Email Marketing: Utilize platforms like your pharmacy’s Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to promote your clinical service offerings. Share informative posts and email newsletters to your patients highlighting the new travel health service. Include information on the convenience of travel health consultations, the ability to get vaccinations on-site, and any special offers that may come with it.
In-Store Posters or Brochures: We have designed the In-Store Travel Health Program Posters below for you to print and inform customers about your newly launched Travel Health Program. Installing eye-catching displays and brochures in your pharmacy will educate customers about your additional clinical services that they may not be aware of.
In-Store Travel Health Program Posters:
By effectively marketing the Travel Health Program, your pharmacy will reap the benefits of boosted patient traffic, increased revenue, and strengthened position within the community as a healthcare resource. You can visit the following resources for additional information on travel health: