“Virtual care is going to lead to better patient care, better patient outcomes, and better clinician satisfaction.”
This week, Drew Schiller, Validic CEO sat down to discuss the need for personal health data in a virtual care strategy, the importance of data integrated into the clinical workflow, and how continuous data from remote patient monitoring (RPM) leads to richer conversations between patients and providers.
The Value of Personal Health Data
Creating a comprehensive virtual care strategy is critical to virtual care.
Outside of a COVID-19 response, telehealth has served as a strong replacement for in-person visits. However, telehealth is only one sliver of a true comprehensive virtual care strategy.
“There are many other components to a comprehensive virtual care strategy: patient engagement, care plan design and following a patient through the whole care journey not only in the hospital but in the home,” said Schiller. “There are also things that you need to consider around a patient’s access to care, social determinants, as well as their personal health data.”
Personal health data is any data that we capture in our daily lives that are relevant for care. Personal health data is important because it provides objective data to providers and care teams.
“Every single diagnosis or medication adjustment is all driven by data”
Drew Schiller, Validic CEO
The data that we can capture from in-home monitoring devices such as blood pressure monitors, weight scales and glucose monitors, as well as health apps and wearables is objective information that we can bring to bear to really not only understand what’s happening in a patient’s everyday life but also how those data impact the clinical decisions and determination that a physician or nurse would make on behalf of the patient.
Data Needs to Flow Into the Clinical Setting
First and foremost care teams need to make sure the data that is captured from the patient’s devices are brought into the clinical workflow in a program of care that the physicians are bought into.
When a patient is enrolled in the program, it’s important that they understand the importance of the program, what they are going to get from a clinical success perspective, and they need to understand how they are going to get their devices and how the data from the device is going to be delivered.
“The important thing to the patient is that they understand on the outset that this is something that is not going to be any more difficult than what they are already doing,” said Schiller. “But the benefit is that the data are going to be in the clinical workflow and the physician is going to be able to see it.”
How Data Turns Patient-Provider Monologues into Dialogues
Consumer health data is turning the patient-provider monologue into a dialogue. When we do this, we can create a better healthcare experience and a healthier future for everyone. With continuous monitoring, physicians have a full picture of a patient’s daily life.
“(With continuous monitoring) We now have a track record, an audited document, of what has been happening with a patient’s blood pressure during different parts of the day and how if you’re on medication how your blood pressure responds to that medication during the day,” said Schiller
To learn more about the need for personal health data in a virtual care strategy, listen to our latest virtual health talk here.
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