How Virtual Specialty Clinics Drive Value for Chronic Disease Care

Virtual specialty clinics represent a new approach to chronic disease management. Learn more about how they reduce the cost of care while establishing a track record of clinical excellence.

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Five Ways Virtual Care Clinics Drive Value

Virtual specialty clinics treat an array of conditions, including diabetes, back pain,obesity and mental health disorders. All these conditions carry a significant financial and economic burden. Building on traditional telehealth services, eachvirtual specialty clinic optimizes remote care delivery and focuses on improving outcomes for a single chronic condition.  

Read more: Benefits of Virtual Specialty Clinics    

Each virtual specialty provider offers its own approach to care management, but they drive value in similar ways:

1. Multidisciplinary approach

Patients receive care from a team that may include physician specialists, advanced practice providers, pharmacists, ancillary care providers and health coaches.The team collaborates through a single platform to optimize care for a seamless experience and quicker results for their patients. This care level is on par with that of academic centers of excellence that focus on specialized, complex conditions. However, the virtual specialty clinics don’t have the logistical challenges and added cost of in-person care.

2. Support for lifestyle changes

Lifestyle changes are critical to improving many chronic conditions, including diabetes,heart disease and hypertension. Virtual specialty clinics provide robust support through health coaches. Patients receive personalized guidance for changing daily habits, increasing accountability. This combination consistently reduces risk factors that can lead to costly complications and hospitalizations.

3. Patient engagement

Licensed, experienced clinicians, many of whom are leaders in their respective specialties, provide virtual specialty services. They are often part of multidisciplinary teams including nurses, pharmacists and ancillary providers. Teams follow the same best-practice guidelines as their in-person counterparts, ensuring expert care at every encounter.

Remote monitoring capabilities allow real-time feedback, making it possible to manage chronic conditions proactively. If a patient has elevated blood pressure or glucose levels, for example, teams coordinate personalized interventions, potentially avoiding expensive complications.  

4. Hybrid care: virtual and in-person

Virtual specialty clinics are part of a hybrid model blending the benefits of on-prem and virtual services with in-person care. The virtual-first approach means patients receive as much care as possible online. They get referrals to in-person providers for physical exams and procedures that require direct interaction. Securedata-sharing capabilities support collaboration that streamlines resources in both settings. 

5. Reducing waste

Under the traditional in-person model of care, patients typically see specialists asynchronously. This leads to duplicate testing and fragmented care that fails to manage symptoms. Virtual specialty care mitigates these inefficiencies by bringing one multidisciplinary team under a single platform. This approach eliminates redundancies, letting patients progress toward treatment goals with fewer appointments.

Solera Health and the Impact of Virtual Specialty Services on Cost of Care

Solera Health is redefining digital health delivery with a comprehensive platform and curated network of virtual specialty providers that support any condition. Our approach reduces chronic disease costs while enhancing outcomes, providing significant value to patients, payers and plan sponsors.

Independent review and validation of three of our network partners demonstrates this approach’s effectiveness:

9am Health virtual endocrinology for diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure

9am Health’s virtual platform provides convenient, personalized services that reduce use of high-cost, low-value prescriptions and address patient behavioral factors.  

Noteworthy clinical improvements include:

·     2.8% decrease in blood sugar (A1c) among patients whose baseline was greater than 9%

·     17.7 systolic and 14 diastolic mmHg decrease in blood pressure in patients with hypertension

Oshi Health virtual gastroenterology services

Oshi Health’s services address both medical and lifestyle aspects of digestive health. This platform drives value by reducing avoidable testing and acute care encounters.

Noteworthy clinical improvements include:

·     60% reduction in GI-related imaging

·     70% reduction in GI-related ER visits

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Vori Health virtual back pain care

Vori Health’s end-to-end virtual care helps more patients achieve long-term pain relief while lowering the use of costly interventions like injections and surgery.

Noteworthy clinical improvements include:

·     77% of patients reported improved painlevels

·     2.86% of patients underwent spine surgery — a 78% decrease

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The Next Step in Measuring Cost Savings from Virtual Care Networks

The evidence is clear that individual virtual specialty clinics reduce the cost of chronic disease care. However, quantifying the cost impact of digital delivery networks, such as Solera Health’s omni-condition platform is a more formidable task.

Stay tuned for a more in depth review in our upcoming blogs.

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