Month: March 2020

The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruption around the world and brought with it a lot of uncertainty. The response from many healthcare systems is showing the increased adoption of digital tools and innovative solutions.

Whilst Virtual Care services are nothing new, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed Virtual Care solutions like Telehealth to the top of the healthcare agenda. In order to deal with increased demand for healthcare services, governments around the world have pushed through regulatory changes to allow the widespread use of Virtual Care models. These Virtual Care platforms are an indispensable tool in an environment where health systems try to keep up supply (clinical assessments and triage) with demand (patients).

In a post COVID-19 world, care delivery models around the world will be transformed and there will be widespread adoption of Virtual Care models in virtually every healthcare setting. This is part of a wider digital transformation agenda in healthcare. Care that used to take place exclusively in physical settings (e.g Doctor’s office) can now take place digitally. Every healthcare organisation (payors, hospitals, life sciences, pharma, medical devices etc.) across the entire value chain (prevention, primary care, secondary care, tertiary care, social care, palliative care, etc.) are exploring a variety of virtual care models, many of which are enabled by telehealth technology.

Hospitals are already using Virtual Care to improve accessibility, availability and affordability of care. As demands for healthcare services increase, driven by an aging population requiring more complex care, Virtual Care offers a smart way to leverage finite healthcare resources.

Virtual Care and digital healthcare enable a model of care that is more affordable and integrated into patients’ lives. Consumer behaviour is also shifting. As Dr. Eric Topol describes in his book titled “The Patient Will See You Now”, patients seek to access healthcare on their own terms (time and place).

Hospitals and health systems that take a proactive approach towards Virtual Care will be well-positioned to meet patient demands in the future.

Primary Care

• Chronic care management, recording vital signs through home-monitoring systems and sending alerts to clinicians when readings fall out of the normal range.
• Pharmacy services, including medication review and prescription verification, for patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, etc.
• Diagnostic screening for diabetes-related eye disease, increasing the number of diabetes patients who receive eye exams to help prevent blindness.
• Sleep disorders, monitoring patients with sleep apnoea for sleep patterns, body positions and breathing.
• Tele-psychiatry, assisting patients in need of behavioural health services.
• Tele-physiotherapy, assisting patients with physiotherapy sessions remotely.

Acute/Hyper-Acute

• Tele-stroke services, creating access to the limited supply of stroke neurologists and targeted use of therapies that preserve brain function and save lives. Tele-stroke services can also help facilitate a “hub and spoke” model, where a hyper-acuity stroke unit can provide remote support to a stroke centre.
• Tele-ICU tools, providing 24-hour intensive support to deliver optimal local care to the most acute patients. ICU beds can all be monitored from one, central control room anywhere in the world.
• Pre & Post Op Consultations, ensuring more efficient use of resources across the health system where a physical exam on the day is not required. For example, a patient scheduled for a cardiac ablation procedure can be consulted remotely prior to the procedure, once certain tests have been performed in advance.
• Post-surgical recovery, allowing patients to self-manage recovery process with support from clinical teams as needed remotely. Sophisticated solutions can also include apps to capture progressive pain scores, wound images, etc. so that clinical teams can monitor recovery remotely.

As a result of COVID-19, many of these hurdles are being taken down rapidly to help drive quicker adoption of Virtual Care services.

Virtual Care is not about technology. Technology is simply an enabler! It starts with culture—and culture starts with the Board and Executive Management team. The governing board and senior management can ignite cultural change with a vision statement that embraces virtual care as an extension of what the hospital or health system already does, rather than as something new or different.

Successful hospital and health system Virtual Care programs require discerning technology choices and critical vendor selection. Success also demands uncomfortable cultural changes and the right executive to create a comprehensive virtual care delivery system for patients.