A buyer’s guide to virtual visits

Updated September 30, 2024

What are virtual visits?

Virtual visits, often also referred to as telemedicine or telehealth, have become an integral part of healthcare delivery. These visits allow patients to receive care remotely using technology such as phone calls, text /chat messages, or video and offer numerous benefits in terms of accessibility, convenience, and cost-effectiveness.

Virtual visits primarily fall into 2 main categories:

Synchronous virtual visits allow for a consumer to receive live, remote care in the form of an on-demand or scheduled virtual encounter.

Asynchronous virtual visits allow for a consumer to receive care that is remote and on-demand in the form of a message (text, email, chat), but is not delivered live/in real-time.

Evolution of virtual visits

As a plethora of virtual visit solutions arise, the landscape is shifting towards new horizons. Opportunities are evolving for more intelligent platforms that enable a more connected and context-based experience with complex use cases, expansive integrated services, and context-based, real-time experiences and workflow integrations.

The evolution of virtual visits is marked by these three distinct generations:

First generation: Comprised primarily of point solutions facilitating basic video connections, primarily focused on task completion. Use cases in this area are narrow with no integrated services and siloed experience and workflow integration. Examples include low-acuity video visits and primary care provider consults.
Second generation: Expands to cover multiple use cases with some device integration, enabling new care models. There are multiple use cases in this area, but they are typically fragmented with limited integrated services and reactive/event-based experience and workflow integration. Examples include asynchronous visits, remote patient monitoring, and condition-specific care.
Emerging: We are now seeing a new generation of intelligent platforms that provide a connected, context-based experience, paving the way for innovative care models and new business models. Use cases in this area are highly complex with expansive integrated services and context-based, real-time experience and workflow integration. Examples include digital therapeutics, second opinions, virtual nursing, and more.

“After collaborating with numerous health systems across the AVIA network, it’s evident that the basic video visit and patient messaging have become table stakes—a standard expectation for how consumers receive care. The key to demonstrating the ongoing value of virtual care lies in leveraging these capabilities to drive innovative business models and strategic partnerships, positioning your organization for growth, optimization, and enhanced efficiency.”

— Marisa Furney, AVIA Virtual Visits Expert

Contact Marisa for a Briefing

Virtual visits framework

The case for virtual visits

Consumers are demanding accessibility and convenience in all sectors with expectations set by daily use of platforms like Amazon, Netflix, and Facebook.¹ However, these consumer expectations are not being met in the healthcare sector when patients are waiting two or more months before they can see a healthcare provider.² Virtual visits can address these challenges by providing an effortless, accessible experience. While the use of video has become common, growth and potential in virtual visits hold particular promise for health systems and consumers.

Enhancing patient access and satisfaction

By implementing virtual visit services, access to care can be improved beyond traditional physical facilities. This approach allows physicians to meet patients where they are by providing timely care that aligns with modern consumer expectations. Offering convenient, accessible care options can boost patient satisfaction, potentially improving retention rates and attracting new patients to the health system.

Drive operational efficiency and new care models

Virtual visits can reconfigure care delivery models and reduce the need for in-person visits for routine matters, which can alleviate some of the burden on healthcare providers, addressing staff burnout and resource scarcity. Healthcare providers can then focus their in-person time on complex cases that truly require face-to-face interactions. This shift not only improves the ability to manage patient volume and reduce costs, but also position health systems to be at the forefront of innovation.

Key attributes of virtual visit solutions

On-demand accessibility: Solutions should be multilingual and omni-channel, with no required app download for patients/members. Real-time, on-demand translation services should be offered to overcome any language barriers in healthcare delivery. This should support both text and voice translation across a wide range of languages. Patients should also be able to navigate care and schedule visits through existing workflows, and providers must be able to launch the solution through the EHR, to ensure ease of use and accessibility across users.

Intake and virtual waiting rooms: The ideal solution will offer digital form upload and intake, patient/ member queuing, file sharing, notifications when the provider is ready to start the visit, integration with connected devices for vitals collection, and tools for patients to test the technology before the visit begins.

Virtual encounter: Solutions should include high-resiliency, high-latency video that can toggle to phone/ audio, multi-party video capabilities, group chat, and screen sharing. Asynchronous visits should allow a patient to alternate between modalities (such as text, chat, in-app messaging, or secure portal), integrated symptom checking and virtual triage, estimated provider responsive time, notifications when providers respond, and the ability to escalate to a video visit or in-person care if needed. All solutions should allow file sharing, provide patient education, and obtain feedback after the encounter.

Diagnosis and documentation: Solutions should leverage existing patient data and incorporate advanced ambient documentation capabilities, using AI to automatically capture and transcribe patient-provider conversations while working alongside traditional templated documentation. This approach should populate EHR fields, generate structured notes, and push after-visit summaries to the patient portal, significantly reducing manual documentation while improving accuracy. Providers must retain the ability to review, confirm, or revisit diagnosis and treatment options within their existing workflow tools.

Device integration: Solutions should seamlessly integrate with a wide range of medical devices and wearables, allowing for real-time data collection and monitoring. This integration should support both in-clinic and remote patient monitoring, with data securely transmitted and incorporated into the patient’s electronic health record.

Billing, orders, and follow-ups: Data regarding eligibility and benefits, prescriptions, labs, orders, and referrals should flow between the solution and the host system, along with pricing and discount information to aid with claim generation. Buyers should also look for automated follow-up and referrals on treatment, adherence, and patient re-engagement, as well as care handoff tools (such as direct scheduling) for patients at escalation or exit points.

Technical support: The leading solutions offer phone, text, and chat-based support for both providers and patients.

On-demand provider networks: Buyers should look for solutions that offer access to a diverse network of on-demand healthcare providers. This network should include various specialties and be available 24/7 to meet urgent care needs. The system should intelligently match patients with appropriate providers based on factors such as specialty, availability, and patient preferences. It should also facilitate smooth handoffs between on-demand providers and the patient’s regular care team, ensuring continuity of care and comprehensive documentation in the patient’s medical record.

Multi-participant access: The ideal solution will facilitate multi-participant virtual visits, allowing for the inclusion of specialists, family members, or interpreters as needed. Features should include role-based access control and tools for managing discussion flow with options for recording and sharing session summaries with participants.

Analytics: Solutions should generate data and profile insight about provider utilization and productivity, most commonly treated conditions, volume by day and time, and resolutions versus escalations.

Organizing for success with virtual visits

Virtual visits are becoming increasingly crucial for healthcare systems aiming to enhance patient care and operational efficiency. They support a broader connected care vision for the enterprise, prompting decision-making to extend beyond individual departments and involve stakeholders across the organization. Successful integration of this technology requires careful consideration of several key factors to ensure its effectiveness and acceptance within the broader healthcare ecosystem.

Identify and prioritize the full set of enterprise use cases: While demand for virtual primary care and virtual urgent care has stabilized, there's growing interest in virtual specialty care, virtual nursing, acute care, and more.

Explore solutions that cater to specific specialties, particularly for patients who would otherwise need to travel long distances for in-person consultations. Virtual visit solutions for mental health have increased accessibility tremendously, but there is also an opportunity for follow-up care, wound care, pain management, and more.
Additionally, as asynchronous care gains traction–especially in areas like men's health, women's health, and mental health–it is important to consider virtual visit solutions that incorporate or enhance asynchronous care capabilities. This aligns with recent trends in consumer behavior and comfort with receiving asynchronous care.
Virtual visits can also be integrated into acute care settings to provide timely consultations and support decision-making processes. This can improve patient outcomes by facilitating quick access to specialists and reducing the need for unnecessary hospital transfers.
Virtual nursing is also emerging as an important use case for health systems to consider, and takes various forms from virtual sitting to virtual patient education in the inpatient setting. This will also likely require some device integration with smart room devices to transmit vitals and other data to remote nurses.

Ensure seamless integration: It's crucial to select virtual visit solutions that can integrate seamlessly with existing EHR systems and other digital health tools including smart devices that are commonly being used in in-patient and clinic rooms. This integration ensures continuity of care, data consistency, and improved workflow integration.
Prioritize comprehensive platform solutions over isolated point solutions: This approach offers multiple functionalities within a single ecosystem, reducing integration challenges and providing a more seamless experience for both providers and patients for use cases across the enterprise. Virtual visit solutions can support a range of use cases beyond patient acquisition and can also help compete with market disruptors, manage capacity issues, and explore novel business models.

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