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1. Create a Notice

If COVID-19 has impacted your practice hours & abilities, we recommend creating a notice for your patients. The information should be shown on your website, heard in your voicemail, and displayed on your website.

We do not recommend creating major, disruptive changes to your site. Use temporary systems to ensure that it does not have a lasting negative effect on your search placement.

If you are one of our FlexSite customers, you can view our guide here to see how this can be set up on your website.

2. Highlight Urgent Care Services

Do you have information on your website about what patients should do in the event of an emergency? Is it clear that you're still providing it at this time? What hours are emergency services available?

Make sure these questions can be quickly answered on a single, easy-to-access page within your website.

If you have a FlexSite in Avelient's optometry network, you may want to consider a content upgrade. Emergency Eye Exams is one of the many pages that are available in our library.

Please contact Avelient Support to find out more.

3. Online Stores & Reordering

Can your patients purchase new contacts online? What about frames or other eCommerce options?

Similar advice could easily apply to a broader range of medical practices, and many healthcare industries have their online vendors that can be used on your website.

We've collected some advice for our FlexSite customers who are looking for advice regarding eCommerce here.

4. Offer Telemedicine / Virtual Appointments

We've noticed a lot of doctors implement technology in their office to accommodate telemedicine appointments. Some have used an all-in-one service such as doxy.me, while others have set up scheduling services such as Calendly to book appointments and then use Zoom to initiate virtual visits.

If you choose to go the route of telemedicine for your practice, it can be exciting and confusing for patients at the same time.

Here are a few guidelines to follow:

• Check your state for telemedicine adoption and parity laws. This website provides a useful resource on the current status of telemedicine laws in your state and should give you guidance on what you can and can't offer existing and new patients.
• Be clear to your patients. Set expectations about what can and cannot be done during a telemedicine appointment. Typically, patients may get help to resolve a problem or determine whether they should see a doctor in person, but it is unlikely that a full eye exam would be performed in this scenario.
• Give telemedicine a clear call to action on your website. Whether you're linking to a page that describes your telemedicine service or directly to your booking system, make it clear that you offer this service to your patients and that they can take advantage of it from wherever they are.

As we work with practices to implement Telemedicine options, we are attempting to standardize templates and resources to make it easier for you to set this up for your practice. We will share that information with practices as it is available.

5. Audit your Services & Content

Many doctors find themselves with extra time on their hands. We'd encourage you to review the services and products outlined within your website to ensure it accurately describes the scope of your practice.

Use this time as an opportunity to hone that message and give patients the resources they need to connect with you. While there may be uncertainty in the coming weeks, there will also be a lot of opportunities to help patients in need.

Avelient can help

If you need some guidance putting up a new page or making a new service visible to your website visitors, we can help.

Our support team has seen many new scenarios from a variety of doctors, and we have implemented solutions that have yielded positive results for doctors and their patients.

We hope you stay safe, and we will continue to provide insight into what we see on the front lines in this ever-changing situation.