Virtual First Approach to Augment Consumer Care Delivery at Home

With the recent Pandemic, we saw significant adoption of Telehealth and other key consumer tools that provided access to healthcare and personal services in a simple, convenient and on-demand way. In fact the Pandemic seemed to accelerate trends that were already in motion (Remote Care, Food Delivery, Transportation, etc.), increasing speed of adoption and demand for similar services on an ongoing basis. Tech-Enabled services and connected platforms continue to expand and play an important role in connecting consumers, especially those in underserved and rural communities, to their appropriate healthcare providers. The Pandemic also provided a significant financial toll on Health Systems, because of lack of ability to do elective surgery, as well as staffing burn-out, employee loss and associated staffing costs. Now, with new models of care emerging, such as Value-Based and Hospital@Home initiatives, as well as Care Innovations, combined with the associated staffing issues and change in consumer demand for healthcare services, it’s more important than ever to utilize key tools upfront with a Virtual First (Digital First) approach as the first line of interaction between the consumer and their care team to increase the standard and quality of care, while taking pressure off the existing healthcare teams.