It’s hard to describe the profound impact COVID-19 has had on the American healthcare system over the last year. As COVID-19 cases begin to rise again, it seems we’re experiencing a bit of deja-vu—ERs have become overwhelmed again and the need for virtual care is still just as pertinent as it was one short year ago.
Source: STAT
In the last year, the Fabric platform saw up to a 415% increase in utilization for non-COVID-related visits.
That’s why we created this resource—a playbook for tackling the resurgence of COVID-19. Let’s take a look at how your virtual care platform can help combat this new wave of the pandemic.
Prevent outages with asynchronous care
COVID-19 visits made up the majority of virtual visits in 2020, but we still saw a big increase in the number of visits for non-COVID-related conditions—proving virtual care is here to stay. Meanwhile, at the height of the pandemic, other virtual care platforms (that don’t offer robust asynchronous solutions) suffered through up to 22 HOUR wait times. Fabric’s average wait time? 10 minutes.
It’s unlikely we’ll see the same peaks in utilization as we saw early on in the pandemic, but we are likely to continue to see higher utilization of virtual care and it’s best to be prepared with a dynamic solution. One that was designed to increase provider efficiency, and decreases patient wait time. Enter: Fabric.
Actively engage in patient outreach
Staying connected with patients who have recently started a visit but weren’t able to complete it is a great way to get them back in for care virtually. With Fabric, get ahead of potential outbreaks by creating an outreach plan with a queue of patients who need care, but may have dropped off. With the resurgence of COVID-19, it’s best to limit patients in clinic exposure and encourage them to get the care they need virtually. As a bonus, providing primary care options, virtually can help prevent delayed and avoided care later down the road.
Intelligent routing to in-person care
A telemedicine platform is a great way to provide safe and efficient care, but it wasn’t designed to replace in-person care entirely. When in-person care is needed, Fabric makes it easy to intelligently route patients where they need to go.
The times aren’t so “unprecedented” anymore. When it comes to virtual care, we’ve done this before and we’ll face it again head-on. But if you think your average video visit is going to continue cutting it—think again. Solutions like Fabric offer a suite of features and modalities that can best prepare health systems for a resurging pandemic and beyond.
