DEC 14, 2020
Virtual care has grown by 240% in Canada since April 2020, with
45% of clinicians choosing to implement virtual care services into their
practices1,2. 1 in 4 Americans have used telemedicine services
during the pandemic, and the use of virtual care has increased ten-fold in
China since March 20203. Although virtual care was a growing “trend” prior to 2020, the
tide has certainly shifted as we embrace a digital-first mentality in
healthcare, our workplaces, and our lives. With this evolution in mind, we’ve put together a list of
three emerging virtual healthcare trends for 2021; trends we hope transform
into real opportunities for change in our healthcare systems.
1. Digital home healthcare programs as the
new, and expected, standard:
Canada’s older population is larger than its younger members,
with more than 5.9 million seniors compared to 5.8 million aged 14 years and
under4. As more Canadians begin to “age in place” and remain at
home, different systems of care need to be built to support their health and
wellbeing. This is especially true while we continue to manage the complexities
of delivering healthcare–while keeping vulnerable people safe– during the
COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
We believe that virtual home healthcare programs, like CarePartners Connect by
OnCall’s customer CarePartners, will begin to emerge as the home healthcare
standard. Virtual homecare programs can include video check-ins and virtual
therapy services, so continuous real-time patient monitoring is possible. It
also means that healthcare providers can create a circle of care around a
patient by connecting with other providers and caregivers through group virtual
features. With the addition of virtual programs, healthcare providers and
systems can generate a holistic healthcare model that wraps around the patient,
so they have more touchpoints and opportunities for better health
outcomes.
If the majority of our population is also our most vulnerable
population, then keeping them safe for the sake of our communities is
imperative. Virtual home healthcare has kept people healthy, remotely, during
the pandemic, and it has shown improved access to comprehensive services that
patients might not receive otherwise. For this reason, we believe that
investing in virtual home healthcare programs is necessary for the future of
our communities.
2. Corporate investments in comprehensive
wellness programs for a stronger workforce:
The “work-from-home trend” has expanded well beyond tech
companies like Google and Twitter, with 74 percent of organizations
implementing remote-only work environments5. Working from home means
there is a limited divide between professional and personal life and in many
cases, people are juggling the complexities of childcare, healthcare, and
everything in between. In this digital environment, employees are facing new
challenges like longer hours, unlimited screen time, burnout, and isolation.
So, how can employers reduce inevitable health-related costs like personal or
sick leave, while sustaining both a healthy digital workforce and a strong
business?
Employers should consider investing in comprehensive virtual
wellness programs to cultivate a healthy remote workforce. Healthcare
enterprises like Soul Being, an
OnCall customer, offer comprehensive healthcare services for every facet of an
employees life, from mental health, diet and exercise, to rehabilitation. Their
complete healthcare programs offer significant benefits to employees: lifetime
care rather than one-off, single-touchpoints, leading to stronger employee
loyalty and trust6. Highly engaged and supported employees means a
reduction in absenteeism, improved efficiency, and overall happier employees7.
By supporting the transition to value-based employee healthcare programs,
businesses can look forward to a stronger economic recovery after the pandemic,
with a productive workforce supporting their growth.
3. Collaboration and interoperability means
healthier patients and healthcare organizations:
In early 2020, cities and communities shut down to “flatten the
curve”, and in Ontario, this socially-distanced approach resulted in less
infections and fewer deaths. As we continue to experience this shutdown,
however; our healthcare systems and networks fail to collaborate in the same
way.
Healthcare networks are naturally made up of multiple systems,
vendors, and platforms, which can be complicated and lack flexibility.
Providers can’t access important patient data and send prescription and chart
information. Patient stories have to be shared numerous times, too. Providers
and patients alike recognize that these consequences are unacceptable.
As the pandemic continues, we believe that healthcare systems
will work to restructure towards greater interoperability and efficiency, for
the sake of their patients and organizations. With the ongoing development of
APIs, such as OnCall’s scheduling API, integration is possible. OnCall’s API
connects provider calendars across healthcare systems, so organizations can bring
aggregated data to all stakeholders, automate multiple workflows, and maximize
connectivity8.
Furthermore, giving providers access to their patients real-time
aggregated data means they can prescribe real-time lifestyle changes, monitor
for symptoms of COVID-19, and encourage patients to take control of their
health long-term. This is especially important during unpredictable times, when
a patient’s health–like older patients as we mentioned previously–can rapidly
change day-to-day. The pandemic has revealed that we can work together for the
greater good, but healthcare providers, systems, and enterprises will need to
change, too, for the health of people and our communities.
So, how do we make an impact?
It’s clear that virtual healthcare programs can be beneficial
for patients and their providers. However, socioeconomic and geographical
disparities, a lack of virtual care education, and an unclear care fee
structure means that we’ll continue to endure the effects of our disparate
systems.
We believe that building a strong foundation is the key to
overcoming our current challenges. Firstly, to challenge our socioeconomic
differences so everyone can access virtual care services equally, our
governments and healthcare systems need to invest in stronger IT
infrastructure. This also means lowering telecommunications and device costs,
so people can easily purchase and use devices to access care.
We also need to develop a standardized method of educating
healthcare enterprises and providers using virtual care. This means a strong
emphasis on rules and regulations for security, technology standards, and
“webside manner”, to help ensure patients are receiving safe and quality care
throughout their healthcare journeys. Finally, to transition to a value-based virtual
healthcare model–instead of a volume-based model–leaders and governments need
to build a regulated fee structure framework so virtual care appointments are
considered equal to in-person care, and so systems can become interconnected
and interoperable.
Virtual care will be the new and expected standard for
healthcare in 2021 and beyond, with effects felt far into the future. We
understand that the changes we’ve outlined above will take time to implement
and adopt, but; we know that with virtual care leading the way, better
healthcare is possible.
1. https://www.cma.ca/sites/default/files/pdf/virtual-care/ReportoftheVirtualCareTaskForce.pdf
2. https://blog.medisys.ca/virtual-healthcare-in-canada
3. https://medcitynews.com/2020/10/how-the-value-of-innovation-will-be-redefined-in-2021/?rf=1
7. https://www.standdesk.co/6-dramatic-business-benefits-of-healthy-employees/
8. https://healthadministrationdegree.usc.edu/blog/healthcare-in-2021/
Nice article.
ReplyDeleteIn this covid-19 period, the wellness of employees plays an important role in the continuous working of the industry. We organise virtual wellness activities for employees, in which our expert guide your remote employees about various physical and mental wellness activities.