For health systems and consumers, virtual care can be a transformational opportunity.
During a virtual roundtable sponsored by Teladoc Health as part of Becker's Hospital Review 11th Annual Meeting, Bruce Brandes, senior vice president of consumer-centered virtual care at Teladoc Health, discussed the future of virtual care. Executives from several health systems offered their perspectives.
Five key takeaways:
- After virtual care was rapidly adopted during the pandemic, providers are now embedding it. One health system leader said the greatest factor affecting virtual care during the pandemic was the singularity of focus. Everyone was aligned in creating tools and workflows. Another participant noted that there was particular receptiveness to virtual care in specialties such as behavioral health and dermatology. Virtual health was also used for pre-op and post-op visits. Other participants said some patients like the convenience of asynchronous communication.
The focus for health system leaders has shifted to refining clinical pathways and embedding digital into the business. One participant said, "We need to align digital so it's not a standalone business unit that sits outside the core."
- Virtual care can be transformational. When Netflix launched, it provided DVDs through the mail, which was more convenient for consumers than going to Blockbuster — but wasn't transformational. Once Netflix became a digital-first, one-to-many experience, leveraging data to hyperpersonalize the experience, it became transformational. Mr. Brandes acknowledged that episodic telehealth visits can be better than in-person office visits but asked, "Is it transformational?" His answer was that developing a whole-person, longitudinal view of more comprehensive approach to virtual care "creates a transformational opportunity."
- Providers are focused on creating the right balance between physical and virtual care. Some people wonder if the future is in-person or virtual care. Mr. Brandes believes health systems must find the right balance based on clinical appropriateness and consumer preferences. He said, "We as an industry are going to find the natural balance and it's not 'either or'; it is 'and' — in-person care and virtual care."
- Virtual care enables five remote patient monitoring use cases, which are best operationalized through an integrated platform. In Mr. Brandes' view, part of what will make virtual care transformational is operationalizing these five remote monitoring use cases: 1) aiding in care transitions post-discharge; 2) providing hospital-level care at home through virtual hospitals; 3) enabling seniors to safely age in place through passive monitoring; 4) empowering people with chronic conditions to live fully and 5) monitoring hospitalized patients in higher acuity care who need constant monitoring. "Virtual care has a tremendous opportunity to empower health systems to unify and integrate care," Mr. Brandes said. "But if the industry continues to look at remote monitoring use cases as separate . . . we risk further fragmenting the consumer and provider experiences while disintermediating the local health system."
Mr. Brandes suggested that these use cases require an integrated platform purpose-built for healthcare that is secure, scalable and interoperable, and that understands clinical workflows. This platform must aggregate, interpret and apply data to hyper-personalize the experience of health and care.
- Virtual care has multiple additional benefits. Health system leaders believe virtual care can be used to both reimagine the achievement of strategic imperatives such as consumerism and the movement toward value-based care and address key issues such as clinician burnout and health inequities.
To learn more about the event, click here.