Health systems moving to a virtual-first care model must establish close partnerships between clinical leaders and IT executives, according to Amy Lukowski, vice president of operations and integration at Ovatient. Rather than treating virtual visits as an extension of traditional care, organizations are redesigning delivery around integrated urgent care, primary care and behavioral health.
Shared governance and metrics
Successful virtual care at scale requires “strong collaboration between health IT leaders and clinicians,” Lukowski said. That partnership must begin with a shared framework for decision-making and accountability, including joint governance structures, shared ownership and common metrics that align operational, clinical and technology priorities.
Moving beyond supplemental services
Health systems should move away from viewing virtual care as a supplemental service. According to Lukowski, “The future of virtual care is virtual-first.” Rather than attaching virtual care to existing in-person operations, organizations should build care models that engage patients virtually first while maintaining seamless pathways to in-person services when appropriate. The work begins by identifying clinical needs and then determining how technology can support them. Successful programs must balance human expertise with technology-enabled processes, she emphasized.
Virtual urgent care as strategic priority
Virtual urgent care has become a key front in patient engagement competition. “Virtual urgent care is table stakes and should be part of every health system’s strategy,” Lukowski stated. Consumers increasingly expect healthcare experiences that mirror convenience found in other industries. However, health systems risk losing opportunities to establish long-term patient relationships if those patients seek care elsewhere.
Integrated continuum approach
Virtual urgent care delivers greatest value when integrated into a broader virtual-first practice that includes primary care, behavioral health and specialty services. “Virtual urgent care is most effective when it is part of a health system’s holistic virtual-first practice that is EHR-integrated, sitting alongside virtual primary care, virtual integrated behavioral health and other specialty services,” Lukowski said. An urgent care visit can become a gateway to additional services, connecting patients with ongoing primary care, behavioral health support or in-person services when clinically appropriate. Virtual and in-person care must share the same EHR environment, giving care teams visibility into patient history and enabling coordination across disciplines.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/why-virtual-first-care-demands-new-partnerships-between-clinicians-and-it-leaders