eHealth Centre of Excellence

Virtual Care & Patient Engagement

 

 

Virtual visits

Our healthcare system in Ontario adapted quickly to respond to the challenges presented by COVID-19. Virtual care adoption in particular was accelerated, as it reduced the risk of COVID-19 by keeping patients home and out of clinic waiting rooms, while also enabling clinicians to screen symptoms remotely and offer medical advice with no risk of exposure.

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Although virtual care should never fully replace in-person care, it will continue to be a valuable supplement post-pandemic, facilitating convenient, quick, accessible, and equitable care when patients don’t need to be physically assessed. Virtual care options can also free up more time in a clinician's schedule for patients who do need to be seen in-person, and reduce overall costs to the healthcare system (with fewer patients needing to visit a walk-in clinic or emergency department)

 

91%: The satisfaction rate of patients using virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent study published by the Canadian Medical Association

 

Although demand for virtual care is on the rise, clinicians have been experiencing some challenges when integrating virtual care into their workflows:

 

  • There are many virtual care platforms and methods to choose from
  • The amount of options can be confusing and can ultimately lead to a fragmented and technologically siloed workflow
  • When virtual care is not implemented appropriately, it can result in unncessary duplication of work, administrative burden, burnout and risk
  • A significant amount of time and resources are needed to allow for planning and testing, to ensure the adoption of virtual care is seamless and sustainable

 

 

 

 

The eHealth Centre of Excellence is here to help!

 

Our team has years of experience with virtual care program development and deployment. We can help your healthcare organization or OHT refine your virtual care implementation process, ensuring virtual care is well-integrated into clinical workflows and is being used to provide an optimal care experience – for both patients and clinicians alike.  

 

How can our team support you?

 

 

 

More about virtual care:

 

 

What is virtual care?

 

Virtual care is a comprehensive term: it encompasses all of the different virtual care and patient engagement tools through which clinicians can interact remotely with their patients. For instance, virtual care also includes patient forms and online appointment booking.

 

 

 Virtual care graphic

 

What types of appointments can be seen virtually? Why use virtual care?

 

 

For more benefits, take a look at our case studies on virtual visit platforms

 

 

 

We can orchestrate an agile and sustainable virtual care workflow that suits your OHT’s specific needs.

 

 Click here to get started!