Post–Emergency Department Virtual Care—More Questions Than Answers

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred rapid and widespread implementation of synchronous virtual care (ie, the delivery of clinical care via telephone or video-based appointments). Although this shift was initially necessary to maintain safe access to medical care during the pandemic, it occurred despite a scarcity of evidence about the equivalence of in-person and virtual care modalities. As health care systems approach some equilibrium in their use of these technologies, we can begin to ask the important question: how well does virtual care work compared with traditional, in-person care?

Opportunities to Address Specialty Care Deserts and the Digital Divide: VA’s Virtual Hub-and-Spoke Cardiology Clinic

“…13 This evolution brings both an opportunity and a mandate for rigorous study of how, when, and for whom virtual care should be employed, and how telehealth visits affect quality of care, resource use, and health outcomes. 14 The current study is formative, with a focus on examining patterns of use; this lays a foundation for follow-up studies delving into the latter set of questions.…”

Digitisation of emergency medicine: opportunities, examples and issues for consideration

“…[ 29 ] Discharging these patients to community-based virtual care services offered by their own family physicians, primary care practitioners or other virtual care providers could be additional options. [ 30 31 32 ] For well-selected patients with medical conditions, such as heart failure or infections that conventionally require hospital admissions, ‘Hospital at Home’ is a patient management model that discharges patients home, so that they can be treated in the comfort of their own homes, with health professionals visiting their homes to manage their conditions, administer therapies and remotely monitor their conditions between visits. [ 33 ] All these approaches exploit digital technologies to transition patients from hospitals to homes with virtual follow-up and monitoring to provide safe patient care at home, thereby freeing up emergency and hospital beds for other patients who require hospital admissions to receive treatment safely.…”