Redefining Telehealth for a Post COVID World

How healthcare organizations can build a sustainable telehealth strategy well after the public health emergency expires. 

 In this Virtual Care Blog post, we share excerpts from a recent American Telemedicine Association interview with eVisit Chief Strategy Officer, Juli Stover. 

 Juli: I think the most exciting thing for me (in speaking with ATA conference goers) is not just the volume of conversations, but the types of conversations we’ve been having. Folks are trying to solve complicated problems—problems that are new for many of their organizations in this new era that we live in

ATA: And part of those conversations is around uncertainties like…new COVID-19 variants and clinician burnout overall. How is eVisit working to address these issues? 

Juli: We've always talked about how technology makes processes more efficient. We’ve always known that…but I think at this time we are absolutely seeing a higher rate of burnout than ever before. So, finding those efficiencies in any means that we can, quite frankly is more important than ever. 

Juli: And so, through our technology, what our customers and organizations are doing is leveraging every clinical resource, and in some instances non-clinical resources. We've gone beyond provider to provider or provider to patient…we're really thinking about everyone that's involved in the care delivery process today.

ATA: To elaborate on that question…telehealth has exploded, particularly through the pandemic. There's no going back. As we reflect, we see some providers still using basic two-way video communication. Is this sustainable in your opinion?

Juli: It's not sustainable for most of the workflows that we see. There are some out there that might be a reasonable solution. But what we saw during the early days of the pandemic was people having to react very quickly and as a result, choosing solutions that they could get their hands on fast.

 Juli: Now what they're doing is going back and looking at those workflows, and truly deciding what long-term sustainability looks like for us to scale and continue to meet those demands. Because to your point, there really is no going back.

ATA: The complexities keep piling on. I mean, you've got uncertainty in reimbursement rates, you’ve got uncertainty in licensing. There is a demand for patients to be seen across state lines. What should providers really be looking for when it comes to a strategic partner to help them solve those complexities?

Juli: What I will say is that all of us, as members of this industry should be advocating for policy and legislation in our individual states and nationally. It's really on us to collect data and to make it good data. We need to tell the story around how effective delivering care in this manner truly is.

Juli: In addition to that, I think one of the first things that organizations should be looking for in a platform is the ability to capture that data and tell the story. Many of the systems that are part of their workflows today may or may not be built to capture effective virtual care data and to help articulate the full picture of this type of care.

 Juli: That's one important component I would encourage all organizations to consider. But then again, because of the way that policy and legislation has been adjusted during this period and will continue to be adjusted, there's now so much reimbursement available. It's not just about using technology to make things more efficient. They can truly use it to generate revenue.

ATA: Fantastic. And then looking ahead for eVisit, what's next for you?

Juli: This is an exciting time at eVisit. We have a lot of great things going on, not only with our product roadmap but growth in general. I would like to encourage everybody to keep looking out because we're truly going to take this from one side of the care delivery equation to the other.

ATA: We're looking forward to watching your progress at eVisit. Thank you so much for being here.

Learn more

What’s next for the future of telehealth? Watch the full interview below to find out: