The majority of consumers perceive that in-person visits are better than virtual visits when it comes to care quality and forming better personal connections with their clinicians, according to a new EY health care survey. But health organizations should not take this finding as an indication to abandon hope; rather, it suggests a real need to examine what consumers value in the virtual care experience, when they value it and why.
The EY survey of 4,000 consumers in the US, England, Germany and Australia in January 2023 found that 78% of respondents believe in-person consults are better for forming a personal connection with the provider. Given the implementation of speed necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, few health systems had the time to fully integrate virtual into their care delivery models, to create the ideal engaging, seamless experiences, or to provide communications training to clinicians on moving care to virtual.
As we move further into 2023, health organizations remain under significant pressure to realize sustainable care delivery models that produce positive, equitable and efficient health outcomes. The modern, integrated care model must be designed to intimately engage humans across the care pathway and seamlessly incorporate digital, virtual and in-person modalities. Health organizations must assess the gap between virtual and in-person, transform their virtual and digital care experiences and synchronize their operating models to support integrated care delivery.
The EY survey also suggests that some consumers are leaving the door open to virtual care in the future, with 43% of respondents indicating they would consider a virtual care consultation as a substitute for an in-person consultation next time they need a primary care visit. Further, an additional 29% had yet to make up their mind. Could they be persuaded by compelling evidence on virtual care quality outcomes and care delivery pathways where the experience is more personalized, accessible and responsive to consumer needs?
Global evidence signals opportunities that health organizations may be overlooking when they don’t properly integrate different modes of care. The new EY research report, “How virtual and in-person care merge for a healthier and more sustainable future,” highlights studies from across the globe showing how the use of virtual and remote patient monitoring to move care out of the hospital can improve outcomes, free up critical clinical staff and reduce costs. Not to mention the reduced patient suffering — a randomized controlled trial of acutely ill adults in the US showed that providing hospital-level care at home for these adults led to significantly less time lying down, fewer labs and a marked reduction in re-admissions.[1]
With inflation, labour shortages and rising costs threatening the financial sustainability of health systems around the globe, it’s clear that new care delivery models are needed. We can’t keep treating people in hospital beds that are becoming increasingly precious, expensive resources, as space and clinicians are strained beyond capacity — especially as consumers become more accustomed to digital, intuitive experiences and relationships in all other aspects of their lives.
But creating experiences that allow patients and clinicians to nurture their relationship is critically important. In a patient preferences study at Johns Hopkins Medicine in the US, a third of patients surveyed listed qualities such as physician kindness and “efforts to connect with me as a human being” as their top concern about the patient-physician relationship, while 80% wanted shared decision-making for medications.[ii] Patients want to feel heard by their clinicians. When integrated care models are designed with consumer preferences and experience in mind, they may lead to even more consistent relationships between provider and patient, enhanced by virtual check-ins and remote monitoring.
Health organizations can start moving toward integrated models of care by analyzing the data they have about their patient population – a task powered by the right data infostructure that allows the free flow of data across the ecosystem. Using patient-level clinical, socioeconomic and behavioral data, health organizations can tap into insights that help them understand which patients benefit the most, how to stratify their care pathways to provide the best experience and outcomes, and how consumers prefer to receive care. For example, the EY survey found that respondents would consider virtual consultations as a substitute for in-person consultations for the following reasons:
- Prescription renewal (65%)
- To discuss test results (60%)
- To save time including travel and wait time (56%)
- For minor medical conditions (55%)
To tap into the power of virtual care, health systems should engage clinicians and patients in their transformation to design more human-centered, efficient workflows and pathways that keep relationships at the center, while providing a superior experience. A virtual visit that is impersonal, stunted and disconnected from the rest of the care journey detracts from the system as a whole. However, a personalized care pathway that supports patient wellbeing, digital and virtual engagement between the patient and clinician, as well as exception-based interventions, can realize the promise of virtually integrated care models.
The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.
About the author
Aloha McBride, EY Global Health Sector Leader, ey.com/healthcare
As the current EY Global Health Sector Leader, Aloha McBride is passionate about sharing leading practices, knowledge and innovation with EY health care clients so they may provide the highest quality care to their patients, based on her experience to transform strategies, operating models and culture.
Aloha believes that our health systems can benefit when we focus on building shared accountability, governance and a culture that values transdisciplinary learning and improvement. By leveraging data and improvement science, we help reduce the potential for medical errors by identifying risk signals. This helps to focus improvement efforts and drive results. The potential payoff is high: great patient outcomes, an engaged workforce, reasonable prices and higher talent retention, which helps to build a better and healthier working world.
Aloha holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, a BA in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and is PMP and LSS GB certified. She also has a personal mission to bring more awareness to animal welfare and dedicates time to www.malinoisrescueleague.org, an organization that helps save working dogs from harm around the world.
References
[1] Levine, D, Ouchi, K, Blanchfield, B, Saenz, A, et al, “Hospital-Level Care at Home for Acutely Ill Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Annals of Internal Medicine, December 2019.
[ii] Hirpa M, Woreta T, Addis H, Kebede S, “What matters to patients? A timely question for value-based care, PLoS ONE, 09 July 2020.
