By Jon Warner - July 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth and other virtual care solutions ‘Virtualcare’ in the US healthcare system. However, usage has since declined from its peak. During the pandemic, patients avoided in-person visits due to infection risk, making telehealth a viable alternative for routine and chronic care. To fully realize the benefits and profitability of Virtualcare, integrating it into existing clinical and administrative systems is critical.
The biggest challenge in scaling Virtualcare is integrating new platforms with existing electronic health records (EHRs) and clinical systems. EHRs contain essential patient information, but most were not designed with telehealth in mind, leading to data duplication, lack of care continuity, and administrative burdens that reduce efficiency and profitability. Therefore, healthcare providers must prioritize deep integration between Virtualcare platforms, EHRs, and other clinical systems. This integration enables seamless booking and conducting of virtual visits within existing systems, ensuring continuity of care and eliminating duplicate data entry.
Integrating Virtualcare with administrative and billing operations is also critical for profitability. Without integration, billing for virtual care services relies on manual data entry, driving up costs and reducing margins. Fully integrated systems automate the flow of billing and coding data, reducing labor expenses and increasing profit margins.
A lack of integration impacts the patient experience, undermining long-term adoption and profit potential. Separate systems require patients to manage multiple accounts and repeat health information, leading to disjointed care. A unified patient experience, enabled by integrated systems, is key to satisfaction, retention, and ongoing utilization of telehealth.
Healthcare organizations must upgrade existing systems or implement new platforms designed for integrated virtual care, clinical, and business operations. Major EHR vendors are enhancing their products with virtual care modules, but full functionality remains limited. Successful integration projects require significant upfront investments in time and capital for configuring interoperability, developing interfaces, and testing data exchange. Despite the costs, the return on investment from integrated virtual care systems will increase as adoption accelerates.
Integrated virtual care platforms will become essential infrastructure for providers, health systems, and insurers. Those investing in strong clinical, administrative, and financial integration will now gain first-mover advantages and be poised to capture higher market shares and margins from virtual care services. By streamlining workflows, improving patient and provider experiences, and driving efficiencies, integrated virtual care systems will enable healthcare stakeholders to scale virtual operations and realize sustainable profits.
This article was written by Jon Warner, Executive Chair of Citizen Health Strategies (CHS). CHS optimizes the end-to-end care experience with advisory, consulting, and product-building services to help deliver the Quintuple Aim – enabling better, faster, and more personalized well and sick care for all.
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