By Michael Dalton, CEO, Ovatient
The healthcare landscape has undergone significant changes in recent years, with digital health and virtual care at the forefront of this transformation. However, as highlighted in a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, the erosion of trust between patients and healthcare providers is an ongoing challenge that demands additional research and urgent attention.
According to the study, from April 2020 to January 2024, trust in physicians and hospitals dropped dramatically, from nearly 72% to 40%. We all know and understand that trust is at the foundation of effective healthcare, influencing everything from patient adherence to treatment plans to overall satisfaction with care. When trust is compromised, the quality of care suffers, leading to poorer health outcomes and diminished patient engagement. So, what can we do to reinforce and, when necessary, rebuild trust?
The Role of Virtual-First Care in Rebuilding Trust
At Ovatient, we believe that virtual-first care offers a promising solution to this pressing issue. Virtual-first care is not just about using technology to deliver healthcare services. It represents a paradigm shift in how care is delivered and experienced. Virtual-first care means putting patients in charge of their health and giving them options on when and where they get care. And for the patients we serve at Ovatient, it means being able to use their insurance or having an affordable cash option.
Virtual-first care, as defined by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) and their IMPACT initiative, prioritizes patient needs by integrating digital tools and platforms into the core of the care experience. This approach enables continuous, proactive engagement with patients, allowing for more personalized and responsive care. By leveraging data and digital platforms, healthcare providers can build stronger, more consistent connections with patients, fostering a deeper sense of trust.
We’re solving for this challenge by building our virtual care solutions on Epic and within MyChart and integrating them with our health system partners. Rather than treating patients in a silo, we’re meeting them where they are and building stronger connections to their local health system.
Enhancing Transparency and Communication
One of the key elements of virtual-first care is its potential to enhance transparency and communication between patients and physicians. Digital platforms enable real-time sharing of information, allowing patients to have a clearer understanding of their health status, treatment options, and progress. This transparency helps demystify the healthcare process, making it more accessible and understandable to patients.
Moreover, virtual-first care facilitates regular, convenient interactions between patients and providers, reducing the barriers to communication that often exist in traditional care settings. Patients can engage with their healthcare team more frequently and easily, which helps to build trust over time.
Addressing Individual Patient Needs
Virtual-first care also enables a more tailored approach to patient management, where evidence-based care plans can be adjusted in real-time based on the patient’s unique circumstances and preferences. This level of personalization demonstrates a commitment to patient-centered care, which is essential in rebuilding trust.
By focusing on the patient as an active participant in their healthcare journey, virtual-first care fosters a sense of partnership between the patient and the provider. Patients feel heard, respected, and involved in their care decisions, which enhances trust and strengthens the patient-provider relationship.
Overcoming Barriers to Trust
While virtual-first care offers many advantages, it is important to acknowledge and address potential barriers. Concerns about data security, the digital divide, and the impersonal nature of technology must be carefully managed. At Ovatient, we are committed to addressing these challenges by ensuring robust data protection measures, partnering with our customers to provide support for patients who may be less tech-savvy, and maintaining the human touch in all our digital interactions. What we provide is virtual care that is entirely human.
Why is this important? Patients in the JAMA Network Open study with the lowest levels of trust were between 25 to 64 years of age, female, had a lower educational attainment level, lower income, were Black, and/or lived in a rural setting. While we have not assessed the education levels of our patients and we are primarily seeing patients in non-rural settings, the other characteristics overwhelmingly reflect who we are caring for. And through surveys of our patients post-visit, we know that 94% say that they would use our services again. As we move into new regions, this is something we will be monitoring closely but we think we’re onto something!
Conclusion: A Path Forward
The findings from the study serve as a reminder of the challenges facing the healthcare industry. However, they also highlight an opportunity to return to our roots and rebuild the patient-physician relationship by once again bringing care to patients where they are located, not just where hospitals and health systems have physical locations. Virtual-first care offers a compelling path forward.
At Ovatient, we are dedicated to leveraging the potential of virtual-first care to rebuild trust, enhance patient engagement, and ultimately improve health outcomes. By embracing this approach, we believe we can create a healthcare environment where trust is restored and patients and physicians work together towards a healthier future.
