January 24, 2025: Sarah and Kate evaluate whether virtual healthcare has lived up to the promises made during the pandemic. Join us as we discuss its successes in mental health and chronic disease management, ongoing struggles with patient engagement and outcomes, and the need for equitable access and integration.
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Today in Health IT, we're discussing, Has virtual healthcare lived up to its pandemic promises? My name is Kate Gamble. I'm Managing Editor at This Week Health, where we host a set of channels and events dedicated to transforming healthcare, one connection at a time. Today's episode is brought to you by Chrome OS.
Imagine a healthcare system where technology works seamlessly in the background, keeping your data secure, your teams connected, and your patients at the center of care. Visit This Week Health backslash Google Chrome OS to learn more. So today we're talking about whether virtual healthcare has lived up to its pandemic promises.
And I'm joined by Sarah Richardson, President of This Week Health 229 Executive Development Community. Sarah, thank you for being here and happy Friday. Happy Friday, Kate. I think there's only one more Friday in what has been a frigid January at the Jersey Shore, so I'm ready to move along,
going to be like 70 degrees today where I am in California, but that's a whole nother perspective.
Oh, to be in 70 degrees. Anyway let's get into this. So as we come up on the five year mark since the start of COVID, which is Hard to believe. This article looks at some of the successes and ongoing challenges of virtual health care. So as we know, during the pandemic, virtual health care experienced a significant increase in utilization due to restrictions on in person care.
However, as traditional health care services resumed, there was a notable decline in telehealth usage across various demographics. We know virtual care has improved access to mental and behavioral health services, with approximately half of these visits being done via phone or video.
Additionally, chronic disease management has benefited from remote patient monitoring and telehealth consults, enhancing engagement and care continuity. But despite these advancements, virtual care has struggled with patient engagement. sustaining long term utilization, and demonstrating clear clinical outcomes.
Concerns regarding the effectiveness and cost of digital health solutions have led to a slowdown in investment and increased skepticism among payers and providers. So this is a tough issue, as we've seen the potential of telemedicine, but the challenges are obviously there. So what does this mean from the CIO's perspective, and what are your thoughts?
One of the things I'd like to lean into prior to putting on the technologist perspective is all the technology in the world isn't going to solve certain aspects of human behavior. Behavior is notoriously difficult to modify even when it's medically necessary. And whether that's a combination of psychological, physiological, or social factors, people are resistant to change.
Ever tried implementing a large scale project in your healthcare system? The people who are going to be utilizing the technology, even if it's going to make things better, are going to be resistant to change. Same is true for a patient having to change their behaviors, especially if there's been an adverse medical scenario in their lives, but your habits are hardwired, you're comfortable with them, and you're always afraid of the unknown.
If there's not immediate rewards associated with something, there is going to potentially be those emotional and cognitive behavioral barriers. You've got the social environmental influences, psychological drivers. knowledge, action gap. And I say that because knowing something is not enough. If you are aware of a medical necessity, it may not mean you're going to do something about it.
It has to be coupled with motivation, resources, and clear steps for change. And then it can be really complex. Medical advice can be overwhelming or confusing, leaving people unsure where to start. And that is especially true if they have either a communication barrier due to either cultural or otherwise.
And they happen to maybe not be tech savvy. All those components have to go into the assessment of whether or not this may be a great solution in your organization. So I'll say that back to my technology hat. Okay, I'm doing strategic planning. What is the trajectory of our virtual healthcare adoption?
And how are we making informed decisions about technology investments and resource allocation? If I'm serving a community that isn't tech savvy or has a barrier to Some of the elements of what I just talked about from a behavioral perspective, we're not going to go full bore. We may go very niche and focus on the mental health aspect of providing care.
The integration is a big deal. You've got to integrate virtual care platforms with your existing IT systems, make sure it's seamless, make sure interoperability is working, so that when the patient does go to their portal or the physician does look up that patient chart, All that information is there.
And then how are you measuring the outcomes? CIOs are always having to think about robust analytics to assess clinical effectiveness and the ROI of virtual healthcare solutions because once you turn it on, someone has to keep it running. Even if you decide to change the algorithm or change the way it's being utilized, somebody's still having to pay attention to that system.
That is hours, that is knowledge, that is cost. There's so many implications about any technology put into place. Are you going to keep it running? And if so, what does that mean organizationally, not just from the impact to the technology team?
I'm really glad that you went into the human behavior element Because how many times have we heard, this is not just about technology, it's never just about technology.
There are so many other factors at play. And honestly, now that more I think about it, just because care is available a certain way, doesn't mean people can or will comply. So really, I think that's, it's so important to remember that there's a lot to this. And this is not a simple issue at all.
And when we look at some of the other factors, you have Policy and reimbursement, which is huge. So the decline in telehealth utilization is, can influence future policy decisions and reimbursement models, as we've already seen, affecting the sustainability of virtual care. And this has significant implications too, in rural health, as we've learned through discussions with people like Brad Reimer at Sanford Health, where this is a big part of what they do.
While virtual healthcare has expanded access in certain areas, disparities remain, necessitating targeted efforts to ensure equitable access across all populations. If people don't have access to an iPhone, very unlikely that they're going to be able to comply with virtual visits. And of course, innovation and investment.
So the skepticism we're seeing and reduced investment in digital health highlights the importance of showing tangible outcomes to attract future funding and support.
You mentioned the conversation with Brad Reimer. I was talking to Deb Murrow last couple of days at El Camino Health, and they've just implemented a new scheduling program, and they had over a thousand patients register.
It's been a huge success, and what I loved is the measurement, and she said, Not only are we measuring success in terms of how people are registering, utilizing this tool, as we get to learn the patient's preferences more often, we'll be able to serve up, do you want virtual, do you want in person, et cetera, knowing what they prefer and serving that option up first.
And one of the quotes from this article, Was it's really about having digital solutions fully integrated into care plans, not sprinkling pixie dust on top and hoping to make it better. So when you think about sustaining virtual care, and we say post pandemic, but I'm just going to say in going forward, because to your point, we are five years.
Since COVID was a thing, and let me start over. We are five years since the onset of the initial pandemic, and exploring those strategies that healthcare organizations can employ to maintain and enhance virtual care services in this landscape is going to be key. What are the two or three business lines that make the most sense?
Where are people most comfortable receiving this type of care? And how are we offering that first? Isn't it? Perspective from the conversation I had with Deb. You got to balance in person and virtual. Not every visit should be virtual. And how are you thinking about traditional care models to provide the appropriate level of comprehensive patient care, always with the lens of the future trends, speculation on emerging technologies and innovation that could address current challenges and propel virtual health forward.
Should always be front and center. We've already seen robots that are getting empathetic responses from patients. People responding to intake for their first appointment with their physicians with an avatar that can take as long as needed to have the right conversations. You back that with the right information in the system and the avatar can ask informed decisions.
And people were finding through research, are. More likely to be honest with an avatar than a human because the avatar likely will not judge them. The power and the validity of even initial intake in a scenario where the person feels most comfortable. If that's telehealth or otherwise, or if that's a telehealth avatar, consider the implications of how you get to the root of what is happening faster and maybe avoid some of the costly procedures to get the appropriate diagnosis.
Yeah, very, really very well said. I think that as we've alluded to, there's a lot to this. It's a complicated issue, but it's one that's so important, especially in certain areas. And one of the things I would recommend is, if you're familiar with Joe Kovidar, he's advisor of virtual care at Mass General Brigham.
He has a lot of great information about telehealth. He's somebody who definitely carries the torch for it, follow people who can give you great information on this and, keep the conversation going.
Absolutely, and never underestimate the behavioral changes, the complex interplay of factors.
But if you are truly tailoring the approaches and sustained effort, you can help individuals prioritize medical necessity and improve their health comes, whether that is with virtual care or in person, yet always a factor to be considering. Absolutely.
So don't forget, share this podcast with a friend or colleague.
Use it as a foundation for daily or weekly discussions on the topics that are relevant to you and the industry. They can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Sarah, thank you for joining on this Friday.
Always love joining you every day. Friday means we get to I think watch football this weekend.
Yes. Yep. No stress for me. No stress for us. We just get to have fun. Our team's out of it. Now we just get to observe and probably enjoy it more. Yeah, I like it. I
like watching football stress free.
We do.
Thanks to everyone for listening. Have a great weekend, and that's a wrap.