Digital Health News

What are Virtual Visits?

Virtual Visits allow  Primary Care Providers to ‘see’ their patients over a secure, online communication system via chat messaging, phone or video. Currently, in Waterloo-Wellington LHIN, virtual visits allows both patient and provider to initiate a visit.

Virtual Visits provide a great option for ‘seeing’ patients that do not need to be seen in-person, reducing avoidable emergency department visits for concerns that can be addressed by primary care, improving both provider and patient satisfaction.

What are patients saying about their experience?

Patients are seeing the value in Virtual Visits! A majority of patients said that seeing their primary care provider through a virtual visit saved them time and made accessing care more convenient (92%).  

In a recent survey, 92% noted that  their experience with Virtual Visits was better than or the same as an in-person visit with 89% of patients saying that they  would recommend Virtual Visits to friends and family.

What are Primary Care Providers saying about Virtual Visits?

Virtual Visits are perceived as an efficient way to see patients who do not need an in-person visit. Based on a recent survey with primary care providers who are using virtual visits, 83 % believe in the potential of virtual visits to enhance their capacity to see patients in a timely manner and enhance the quality of care they provide to their patients. Data on the virtual visits conducted illustrates that 83% of patient-initiated visits were responded to by primary care within 24 hours and 93% by 48 hours.

Based on its impact to efficiently see patients, 58% of primary care providers believe that virtual visits have the potential to enhance their capacity to see more patients within a day.

Virtual Visits bring patients and  primary care providers together in a setting that saves time and resources, in addition to supporting the quality of care for patients where and when they need it.