“As one of the nation’s largest health systems, serving more than nine million veterans and supporting over 400,000 healthcare providers across the country, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs knew the importance of virtual care long before the pandemic forced its acceleration.”
“To Dr. Christina Armstrong, a clinical psychologist at the VA’s Office of Connected Care, virtual care lets providers leverage the white space – the time between in-person doctor’s visits – to actually support healthy behavior changes.”
“’We just have this tiny snapshot of their lives and that’s where virtual care comes in,’ she said today during a HIMSS21 educational session. ‘It can really get into the white space in ways we never have been able to before.'”
“The system had implemented a number of virtual care tools well before the pandemic, including the MyHealthyVet patient portal, over 60 mobile apps on VA Mobile, and telehealth and remote patient monitoring capabilities.”
“This allowed the system to not only stay above water during the pandemic, but also grow its services, according to Armstrong.”
“’Although we were all in chaos at [the start of COVID-19] because the VA was so well prepared before the pandemic, we were not only able to meet the needs of our patients, but we were also able to innovate amid the chaos,’ Armstrong said.”
“During the early phases of the pandemic, the VA saw significant increases in its telehealth usage, patient encounters with the MyHealthyVet patient portal and demand for its automated text-messaging bot, Annie…” Read the full article here.
Source: How the VA’s virtual care infrastructure enabled innovation during the pandemic – By Mallory Hackett, August 10, 2021. MobiHealthNews.
