Virtual care has, without a doubt, been on a journey within the past few years.
The framework of how clinicians and care teams provide care and how patients receive care is evolving, creating boundless opportunities to know, support, and engage with patients on a deeper level.
One of the reasons I am thrilled to join the Carium team as CEO is our ability to stay on top and ahead of this virtual care evolution. Now, we are excited to help bring these innovations into the future.
So, what does the current state of virtual care look like? Where is it going?
Let’s talk about it.
Consolidation for comprehensive virtual care
One word that comes to mind when describing the state of the market right now is consolidation.
With so many virtual care buzzwords flying around—RPM, telehealth, digital health, RTM—we’re finally seeing them consolidate into what we call virtual care.
However, a level of confusion and disconnect remains. Larger organizations are beginning to cut through the fog and spiraling expense of disparate point solutions. However, it remains very confusing for end-users in the market, especially for smaller organizations and individual clinicians.
Overall, we see the market embracing a more holistic view of virtual care and becoming more comfortable with the idea of a comprehensive platform to achieve their virtual care goals.
Certainly, we still see many potential customers entering the conversation with a specifically felt need, such as an RPM or telehealth solution. But when we dive into deeper dialogue, we often realize what they actually want is a comprehensive virtual care solution that addresses everything happening to a patient outside of their doctor’s office.
What and who is driving change?
Consumerism, personalization, convenience and the need to connect outside of the traditional healthcare setting are driving and shaping the next wave of virtual care. If you look across all the things we prioritize in our lives, whether that’s health and wellness, finance, retail, or any way we experience the world around us, they are all influenced by these concepts.
Society now expects a highly personalized, ultra-convenient, consumer-based approach to many aspects of day-to-day life, including how they receive healthcare.
The industry at large chases older demographics, primarily because of the sheer size of the aging baby boomer population and because the healthcare cost is greatest for this population. Yet, I believe increasingly the younger demographic will drive the virtualization of healthcare.
Another factor continuing to drive change is the movement to improve patients’ health and wellness now as a means to lower costs and create better outcomes long-term.
The all too common diseases that most value-based initiatives focus on, like cardiac conditions, type 2 diabetes, or preventable cancers, are significantly influenced by general health and preventative care.
As advanced payment models improve, they are increasingly focusing on preventing these conditions and the onset of disease. Virtual care solutions are increasing our ability to meet patients in their daily lives and affect these outcomes in real-time, by:
education and coaching.
communicating within their daily lives.
recommending actions, informed by real-time data about their health.
Where is virtual care headed?
We see virtual care as an opportunity to deliver a level of person-centric care that has been an aspirational vision but has yet to be fully realized in traditional delivery models. We created Carium to make that aspirational vision a reality and enable care for health at the point of real life.
We see the market rushing toward the patient and toward engaging them more actively in their long-term health.
Whether people call it RPM, digital health, or another buzzword, the conversations we’re having with care delivery organizations are about a seamlessly integrated environment that engages patients and enables them to participate actively in their health and medical care.
Because we’ve built a robust, comprehensive patient-centered solution from the beginning, we’re not shifting the solution to chase the market. Instead, we’re engaged in shifting the conversation to an ever-improving relationship with the patient and the people that serve them.
As virtual care solutions consolidate into a holistic approach, I believe Carium is very well poised to lead that conversation on a realistic, strategic, comprehensive level.
Join me for an exclusive coffee talk — “ask me anything” style — as we discuss the future of virtual care technology on August 26th. RSVP here.
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