Virtual Symposium on Quality Frameworks for Virtual Care: Opening Remarks
July 12, 2023- 00:00Welcome everybody.
- 00:01It's a pleasure to greet you today
- 00:04and serve as the host for today
- 00:07for this virtual symposium on
- 00:09Quality Frameworks for Virtual Care.
- 00:12This is a program that is sponsored
- 00:14and hosted by the Mass General
- 00:16Hospital Center for Telehealth and
- 00:17our Mass General Brigham Health
- 00:19Systems Virtual Care Programming
- 00:21with the collaboration and input and
- 00:23planning of many of the experts that
- 00:26you will see on the panels today.
- 00:29We're really excited to share
- 00:30this body of work with you and
- 00:33together with you move this field
- 00:35forward in an area that is vitally
- 00:38necessary for us to be successful.
- 00:41And that's really rethinking our
- 00:43quality frameworks to make sure
- 00:45that they are expansive enough to
- 00:48incorporate the elements of virtual care.
- 00:50And I think as we start to prepare ourselves
- 00:54mentally for what today will will hold.
- 00:58I'd like you just to think about
- 01:00quality in a couple of different ways.
- 01:02There are our traditional quality
- 01:04frameworks that we apply to
- 01:06care delivery and many of those
- 01:08will extend across in person,
- 01:10hybrid and purely virtual
- 01:13care delivery models.
- 01:14Some will be more uniquely
- 01:15focused on in person care,
- 01:17some more uniquely focused on virtual care.
- 01:20And the goal of today is to really
- 01:22rethink our quality frameworks so that
- 01:24we can apply the same kind of rigor.
- 01:27Hold ourselves to the same kind of
- 01:29standards for the quality of care
- 01:30delivery that we do when we used
- 01:32to do primarily in person care.
- 01:34So if I can have the next slide,
- 01:35please
- 01:41introduce myself. I'm Doctor Lee Schwam.
- 01:43I'm the Vice President for Virtual Care
- 01:45at the National Brigham Health System
- 01:46as well as the Director for the Center
- 01:48for Telehealth at NASA General Hospital.
- 01:50I've, I've been a professor
- 01:52of Neurology at Harvard.
- 01:54And a faculty member at the
- 01:56Massachusetts General Hospital
- 01:57for almost 30 years and you know,
- 01:59really delighted to serve as
- 02:00today's moderator. Next slide,
- 02:04so just a few logistics.
- 02:05We're going to record all of
- 02:07the sessions and they will
- 02:08be stored and available at
- 02:12www.virtualcareconsensus.com where
- 02:13you'll be able to review the review
- 02:16them afterwards during the session,
- 02:17if you'd like to ask questions,
- 02:19please use the Q&A function.
- 02:21And those questions will be
- 02:23surfaced to the moderators.
- 02:24Anything we don't get a chance to
- 02:26answer during the symposium itself,
- 02:28we will try to address with a series
- 02:30of FAQs and post those answers to
- 02:34the symposium website afterwards.
- 02:36Additional resources after the session
- 02:38will also be at the same website,
- 02:40and that's where we have
- 02:42traditionally posted additional
- 02:44materials as they become available,
- 02:46if at any point during the symposium
- 02:48you have technical difficulties.
- 02:50Just try to log out and use
- 02:52the same link to rejoin.
- 02:53If for some reason you need
- 02:55further technical assistance,
- 02:56you can call our telephone number
- 02:58listed here or you can e-mail us
- 03:02at digitalmedia@partners.org.
- 03:03Next slide
- 03:07So the MGH and National Brigham are
- 03:10committed to hosting an annual symposium
- 03:12on key topics related to virtual care.
- 03:15We have subject matter experts
- 03:16from across the country and across
- 03:18organizations we are going to meet today.
- 03:20The first inaugural symposium
- 03:22was held last year in September,
- 03:24and that is available as well on the web.
- 03:27That was called Rethinking
- 03:29Curriculum Competency and Culture
- 03:30in the Virtual Care Era.
- 03:32And two of those sessions were
- 03:35actually featured in articles
- 03:37that appeared in the AM A website.
- 03:41Highlighting aspects of different
- 03:43elements of the symposia.
- 03:45And you can also,
- 03:46if you're interested,
- 03:47visit that website and view the entire
- 03:50contents of the first Symposium.
- 03:52We're committed to having these be
- 03:54open source and available to everyone.
- 03:56A manuscript based on the first Symposium
- 03:58is under review of the journal and
- 04:00we hope to have that accepted soon.
- 04:02Next slide.
- 04:06So given the significant advancement
- 04:08of virtual care that we've seen
- 04:10emerged during this pandemic in the
- 04:12almost two years since this all began,
- 04:15it seems like now is the time to start
- 04:17thinking about quality frameworks and how
- 04:19they have evolved across organizations and
- 04:21where they need to continue to evolve.
- 04:24It's very clear to those of us at
- 04:25least on this panel, that virtual care
- 04:27in some capacity is here to stay.
- 04:29It's not going to retreat and disappear,
- 04:31even if it reduces in its penetration.
- 04:34And so we we have to grapple
- 04:36with this issue of quality.
- 04:38And so key questions that we're going
- 04:40to be thinking about and trying to
- 04:42address today include, you know,
- 04:43what are the guiding principles
- 04:44that we need to establish.
- 04:46And guiding principles are probably
- 04:47an important thing to focus on here so
- 04:50that we get a framework in place that
- 04:53can adapt to the changing and rapidly
- 04:56evolving environment we live in.
- 04:58What virtual care looks like today
- 05:00will most assuredly not.
- 05:01Be what it looks like in a year or two
- 05:03or three years, the pace of adoption,
- 05:05the pace of technology is moving so fast,
- 05:08I think we just need to be prepared
- 05:10for change.
- 05:10And so core principles rather than
- 05:12a detailed laundry list is an
- 05:15important approach.
- 05:15What are the best practices that have
- 05:18already been deployed to measure
- 05:19quality of care for virtual care?
- 05:21And how does that compare and align
- 05:22with the existing in person frameworks?
- 05:24You'll hear some really interesting
- 05:26comments about that.
- 05:28How have they evolved in the past year?
- 05:29What do they look like when they started?
- 05:31What do they look like now?
- 05:32And has the increased adoption of
- 05:35virtual care impacted patient access
- 05:37and experience? Has it made it better?
- 05:39Has it made it worse?
- 05:40Has it made it better in some
- 05:42areas where some others?
- 05:43And how is that being measured?
- 05:44What what are we doing to track?
- 05:46The these really important aspects
- 05:48of access and experience or what has
- 05:51sometimes been called patient satisfaction,
- 05:53and then what are the pitfalls or
- 05:55barriers that you've encountered
- 05:56in developing virtual care quality
- 05:57frameworks at your own organization?
- 05:59You'll hear from some of the experts
- 06:01on today's call,
- 06:01but we'd love for you to use the the
- 06:03panel experience and the and the
- 06:05Q&A function to tell us about your
- 06:07own experiences because we learn
- 06:09best when we learn from each other.
- 06:11And then what are some nice examples
- 06:13of how quality frameworks have
- 06:15been applied in various use cases.
- 06:18So with that said,
- 06:19let me go to the next slide having
- 06:22kind of prepared you for the the
- 06:25overview of the conference today.
- 06:28These are the four panels.
- 06:30The first panel we'll talk about
- 06:32general principles and quality measurement.
- 06:33The second will be about developing A
- 06:36framework. We'll take a short break.
- 06:37We may eat into that break a little
- 06:39bit if the first two sessions are
- 06:41running a bit long,
- 06:42and then we will come back for
- 06:43how to apply the framework
- 06:45in ambulatory settings and
- 06:47in asynchronous use cases.
- 06:48And then you'll have a
- 06:50few brief closing remarks.