Virtual medical care is an increasingly popular model of health care delivery for the management of common acute illnesses. Virtual visits offer patients convenient and timely access to care, which is especially important when a patient’s condition requires urgent attention. In a piece for the American Journal of Managed Care [1], Priyam Vora discusses findings from a HCFO-funded study from R. Adams Dudley, University of California, San Francisco, that found [2] quality of care varied greatly across companies providing virtual visits for common acute illnesses. Vora highlights that antibiotic prescription rates and testing rates are areas that need improvement. In his HCFO-funded study [3], Dudley and colleagues examined the processes and quality of virtual medical care for minor acute illnesses to inform stakeholders about monitoring and paying for virtual care and to identify ways to improve this model of care delivery.
Links:
[1] http://www.ajmc.com/newsroom/quality-of-virtual-healthcare-visits-vary-vastly
[2] http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2511324
[3] http://www.hcfo.org/grants/studying-process-and-quality-virtual-medical-care
[4] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/acute-care
[5] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/health-information-technology
[6] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/organization-and-supply-care
[7] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/quality-care