If Today’s “Virtual Care” is not the Answer for People With Chronic Conditions, What Is?

In the future – virtual care 2.0 – must build upon this understanding and focus on a new KPI (key performance indicator): patient autonomy, the ability of a person to treat themselves effectively and feel confident in their decisions. The Covid-19 pandemic pushed the medical industry to offer high quality care at a distance, and many patients are finding it easier to consult their physician than ever before. This is undoubtedly a positive development, but it is not a paradigm shift. Contemporary virtual care is not the revolutionary change that the industry needs.

Today’s “virtual care” makes use of technologies – video, chat, security, privacy – to mediate the time-constrained relationship between overloaded medical professionals and patients. But it fails to acknowledge the fact that most chronic care is actually done outside that relationship, during day-to-day life, leaving patients to take on their everyday health decisions without adequate support.