Primary Care Clinician Perspectives on Team-Based Welcome Video Visits

Abstract

Background: Synchronous virtual visits aid in longitudinal primary care and fulfill unmet needs for patients and clinicians. Virtual visits are widely accepted for specialty consultation and follow-up; however, novel systems-based programs and processes may support earlier engagement.

Aim: Evaluate primary care clinician attitudes and perspectives on patient information obtained team-based, nurse-led virtual visits ahead of face to face visits.

Setting: Study occurred in a large, regional, multispecialty group practice in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Participants: Participants included primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.

Program description: Virtual visits are a component of a large, unified network strategy called the Patient Partnership Model which incorporates technology and remote care to achieve improved access and patient satisfaction.

Program evaluation: Survey of participating primary care clinicians assessing impact of at-hand medical history, social history, and medications on delivering face to face primary care. Weighted mean of satisfied participants was 3.61 on a 5-point Likert scale.

Discussion: Participants reported satisfaction and acceptability of team-based virtual visits, noting high satisfaction with information exchange and actionability of notes. Participants reported ongoing opportunities to enhance medication reconciliation. Virtual visits continue to evolve and may serve varying roles in primary care.