mHealth Collaborative Unveils New Definition, Resources for 'Virtual First Care'

A partnership launched earlier this year to support virtual care has introduced new resources for payers and healthcare providers thinking of replacing in-person services with connected health.

The IMPACT (vIrtual-first Medical PrActice CollaboraTion) initiative, developed by the American Telemedicine Association and the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), has unveiled a formal definition for virtual first care (V1C), along with some vignettes from providers who are only using virtual platforms to deliver emergency, respiratory, cardiac and sleep care.

“Confusion about how virtual first care differs from traditional telehealth, in addition to the questionable quality of some digital health apps, has undermined trust in this novel approach to healthcare,” DiMe Executive Director Jennifer Goldsack said in a press release, which accompanied an announcement and panel  presentation during this week’s ATA 2021 virtual event. “But virtual first care is healthcare; it adheres to all applicable laws and standards of care, making it worthy of our trust. IMPACT’s proposed definition lays the much-needed foundation for a clear and unified path forward and will unlock numerous benefits across the digital health field.”

As set forth on the IMPACT website, virtual first care is defined as “medical care for individuals or a community accessed through digital interactions where possible, guided by a clinician, and integrated into a person’s everyday life.”

The Boston-based initiative was borne out of the massive shift to telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic, and a resulting transition to hybrid care as COVID-19 eases off. In that landscape, some providers are thinking of either launching virtual-only care or transitioning their in-person services to virtual platforms.

Goldsack and her colleagues say providers need guidance to take that leap.

“Virtual-first practices have staff and clinical workflows that are based exclusively on caring for patients remotely, and that don’t have to be reverse-engineered into existing workflows,” she said when IMPACT was launched in January. “Virtual-first practices use technologies for patients to monitor their health at home, as well as offer care teams that might look a little different. They often include and coordinate needed diagnostics, therapeutics, remote patient monitoring, mental health professional consultations, coaching, nutrition consultation, together with physician services, all delivered outside of traditional healthcare facilities.”

The effort is particularly noticeable in the payer market, which has seen the recent launch of a number of V1C plans and partnerships with V1C providers, particularly in mental health care. Members hope the new definition and resources will help guide the payer market to develop reimbursement models and give providers a strategy to launch their own programs.

“Virtual first care is digital health in practice,” IMPACT Co-Founder Don Jones, a former Qualcomm Life executive and former chief digital officer at the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said in the press release. “IMPACT uniquely convenes organizations from across the ecosystem that view virtual first care as their primary mission. Members of IMPACT are already demonstrating patient and provider satisfaction, as well as pathways to cost savings and improved outcomes.”

“With a clear definition for the field, we have paved the way for more fit-for-purpose reimbursement models and opportunities to demonstrate the value of virtual first in practice,” he added.