| | DECEMBER - 20218UTLOOKHealthcare Tech IN MY OPINIONENGAGING PATIENTS VIRTUALLY: A NEW ERA OF CAREBy Nancy Kramer, Vice President of Clinical Nursing, Optum Infusion PharmacyVirtual visits for home infusion therapy and other specialty care needs werenearly nonexistent prior to 2020. With no clear reimbursement path to support the cost of technology, development of a telehealth program was nota priority for most providers. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 brought with it a trifecta of factors supporting the growth of virtual visits: · Pandemic-related hospital lockdowns prohibited the pre-discharge teaching visits that were often an expectation. · Access to inexpensive virtual visit technology increased. · Patient preference shifted to reduce unnecessary encounters in their home.As a result, virtual care became more widely accepted as payers adapted their policies to allow for telehealth visits, providers offered more virtual care options and patients grew more comfortable using digital platforms. This transition was seamless for many, and options for staying connected with family and friends became mainstays for connecting with healthcare providers.At Optum, virtual care remains a critical component of our patient engagement strategy and has quickly evolved to meet the changing needs of patients. Expediting Optum's Telehealth ProgramMandatory lockdowns were initiated in mid-March 2020, for most of the country, and Optum launched its first ever telehealth program on March 30, 2020 ­ within weeks of required quarantines. There was a need to move quickly but most importantly, safely. Optum protected patient privacy with a secure platform; ensured consistency across the organization by providing resources and in-depth training; and monitored quality through data collection and analysis of factors such as the number of consults by therapy type and utilization of virtual visits per month. Consumer feedback was obtained verbally after every single sessionand still is today (recent data shows an NPS score of 93, indicating a continuous positive patient experience).Optum's goal is to provide the same high-quality care and teaching in a virtual setting. Several patient touchpoints, such as medication consultations, have greatly benefitted from virtual care options. Not all patient encounters are appropriate for a virtual visit, such as the need for hands-on patient care,
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