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While the past eighteen months have seen a whole host of work from home jobs cropping up across sectors that were previously focused on in-person offerings, some fields have continued to require in-person attendance, even as lockdowns raged and everyone else was under strict stay-at-home orders. Healthcare professionals, especially, faced a reality where an inability to work from home in most instances led to professionals taking front-line risks in person every single day. But, as pandemic-facilitated changes to healthcare, in general, make themselves known, we’re seeing more and more instances where even healthcare can comfortably be delivered from home. Of course, doctors and surgeons will continue needing to attend in-person, but elsewhere in healthcare, these five positions are just a few examples of how remote work can easily be applied to the care sector, as well.
# 1 – Triage nurses
Telehealth appointments surged by an astounding 154% as early as March 2020 as patients urgently tried to avoid medical settings. While many of these appointments were conducted by GPs who also continued to see patients in-person where necessary, an increased call for triage and virtual nurses saw remote positions opening to qualified nurses as quickly as office workers switched to their homes. The development of advanced patient questionnaires and photograph submissions ahead of a phone appointment have especially facilitated remote triage operations for nurses who either reassure patients based on their own experience and understanding or help patients to receive referrals for further treatment as a follow-up from these initial remote appointments. While patient privacy does mean that such individuals are required to operate in private offices at all times, this is a fantastic opportunity for bringing healthcare expertise into a home setting.
# 2 – Telepharmacist
Telepharmacy has developed directly alongside telemedicine in general, and enables pharmacists to communicate with patients, typically remotely, through telephone appointments and other digital communication tools. Sitting alongside increasingly online-only pharmacies, these appointments can be easily conducted from the homes of trained pharmacy professionals, and positions in this field continue to grow as the convenience of on-demand medications fuels patient expectations across the industry.
# 3 – Medical coder and biller
Unlike accountants in other areas, medical coders and billers are specifically concerned with the complex coding systems that record and update patient records, as well as overseeing payment methods, insurance billing, and other such patient-based financial concerns. Given that most of this work is completed either by phone or computer, a remote switch here has seemed inevitable for a while, and software developments like those offered by PMMC have further hastened this switch by providing easy access to a highly rated revenue cycle management software from any location. The ability to oversee complete healthcare revenue has especially provided medical billers with the oversight they need to keep both sides of the patient-provider divide happy, all from the comfort of their home offices.
# 4 – Patient care advocate
Many healthcare insurance providers hire nurses to help simplify their offerings and coverage for patients who can too easily get bogged down in complex medical jargon. These nurses, typically termed as ‘patient care advocates’ operate almost exclusively by phone to help customers better understand products and services, as well as specific treatment options that fit within those requirements, and even plans that may be a better selection for their specific healthcare needs. Increasingly, the phone-only nature of these roles means that, except for specific highly complex insurance cases, at-home operations couldn’t be easier to implement and facilitate right now.
# 5 – Medical transcriptionist
Outside of specifically care-heavy roles, remote healthcare offerings also include positions like medical transcriptionist roles, where individuals are required to transcribe notes made by healthcare providers during appointments. While sensitive, private working arrangements are also required in these instances, the flexibility possible with these transcriptionist roles lends itself perfectly to at-home working, and has proven as an especially fantastic fit for individuals with families, or with limited time to dedicate to their day jobs.
Healthcare is certainly less transferable to at-home work than many other fields, but continual innovations in the industry still ensure that, with the rise of telemedicine especially, more and more remote-only positions will open up even here. For individuals who have always been daunted by patient-facing high-pressure roles in this sector, or even for those who are simply ready to step back into a more gentle healthcare approach, any one of these roles could be the ideal way to turn care dreams into reality in no time.
