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COVID-19: Pivoting a Digital Consumer Strategy for the New Reality

By The SHSMD Team posted 08-18-2020 11:54 AM

  
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Amid the volatility and uncertainty that COVID-19 has created, a few new certainties are emerging including the acceleration of digital strategies for health systems (e.g., the use of remote care and telehealth). Some previous certainties, like the importance of trust in health care providers and the need for collaboration, are receiving more attention than before the pandemic.

The Providence Digital Innovation Group – a team of strategists, software engineers, marketers and investors with Providence Health and Services in Renton, Washington – has identified the major trends driving the evolution of the industry toward the next normal. The group makes their reports on each of these responses, impacts and outcomes available online, including the report, “Distributed Care and Digital Health Acceleration,” from which this blog post draws heavily.

Here, we preview an upcoming session from Sara Vaezy, chief digital strategy and business development officer for Providence, at Navigating a New Reality, the virtual conference from the AHA and SHSMD, from September 12 through September 14. The session, “Pivoting a Digital Consumer Strategy for the New Reality,” will feature highlights from the entire series of findings from the Digital Innovation Group. 

While health care consumers and providers dramatically increased their use of virtual care because of COVID-19, many indicators point to long-term sustained use, even once COVID-19 is no longer the serious and widespread threat that it is currently. “The surge in virtual care [telehealth and digital health] brought on by COVID-19 has catalyzed an era of care distribution and decentralization, powered by care delivered outside the traditional health care facility. [Care] models that build upon this momentum will require new payment, regulatory and operating models and offer a frictionless, connected experience. Changes to the care experience may be significant, especially in hospital at home, remote patient monitoring, outpatient and non-urgent care and chronic disease management,” notes the report.

However, not all the temporary changes in regulations and reimbursement have the same high probability of continuing post-COVID. For example, “Cross-state licensure and data privacy regulations … appear less likely to be permanently moved.” Individual states, especially where health care incumbents have political influence, are “less likely to allow out-of-state providers to practice in their state,” the report states.

The Digital Innovation Group does not anticipate that fees for virtual care will retain parity with in-person visits. That said, it does anticipate lasting increases in reimbursement rates for virtual care. Some payers may try to reduce reimbursement for in-person care while raising the rates for virtual care.If providers have to significantly increase the volume of care they provide to maintain the same revenue, this may increase clinician burnout, according to the report. To avoid this, more providers and payers may accelerate the transition to value-based approaches. “Leveraging virtual visits within value-based payment models…[and]untether[ing] themselves from the visit-based fee structure and [replacing] some in-person visits with a combination of virtual visits and several AI-assisted automated digital interactions with the patient, [can offer] a higher level of service at a lower cost.”

The report notes that the pandemic and rise of virtual care has increased the possibility of digital-first, lower-cost disruption. Providers must leverage their expertise and existing relationships with consumers and develop their virtual capabilities to avoid being left behind. “Lightly differentiated single-service applications, [such as an app just for diabetes testing and another just for diabetes nutrition advice] will likely be commoditized. Instead, value will flow to platforms supporting multi-modal [and platform- neutral] distributed care in which workflow is the source of value – not merely the ability to deliver a video visit. The future of virtual care will not simply be video visits or asynchronous chat, but a suite of services, leveraged when appropriate to meet patient’s personal and clinical needs. The key innovation will be the intelligent orchestration of multiple modalities of care [essentially creating a one-stop shop] rather than the individual applications servicing them. Further value will be delivered through technology within the video call making the session more efficient for both the provider and patient,” says the report.

Health care providers can prepare for this new, digital future by:
  • Using tools that only address one clinical area or function, such as an app just for diabetes testing and another just for diabetes nutrition advice, only as an interim solution rather than a long-term strategy.
  • Developing a telehealth/virtual care strategy and plan that are based on integrating services, essentially creating a one-stop shop for digital care and associated needs like payment and scheduling appointments.
  • Ensuring that technology solutions increase value for patients and efficiency for clinicians, improving the experience for both.
As with other aspects of health care, COVID-19 has created opportunities as well as challenges. To learn more about digital strategy and health care transformation and stay on the leading edge of tomorrow’s health care disruption today, be sure to attend “Pivoting a Digital Consumer Strategy for the New Reality” at Navigating a New Reality, the virtual conference from the AHA and SHSMD September 12 through September 14.
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