As we continue our three-part series on the Virtual Care Clinic (VCC), this week we’ll take a look at how it functions, from a technology and staff perspective.
The VCC is essentially a clinic without walls, says Blake Cameron, MD, MBI, associate professor of medicine and medical director of Telehealth and Access Innovation, Private Diagnostic Clinic (PDC) and the Digital Strategy Office (DUHS), who has been at the forefront of the initiative. The VCC replicates all of the functions that providers and patients normally expect in a brick-and-mortar clinic.
“Prior to this service, telehealth was basically the Wild West,” he says. “We had providers juggling tech support and intake tasks, bearing the burden of all this work that normally is supported in a clinic.”
Virtual clinics, which have the advantage of being far more space efficient than the traditional brick and mortar model, ease the physical space challenges that come with the health system’s grown mandate. This model lends itself to Duke Health’s growth planning to reach more patients without constructing as many new clinics across the Triangle.
Virtual care has other benefits to the Department of Medicine from an operational standpoint including the reach that it supports in terms of market share growth and reputation and, from an academic standpoint, it can open the doors to novel lines of research and education.
In addition to supporting virtual care visits over Zoom, the VCC is supporting remote patient services, initially with blood pressure and growing to include other physiologic parameters and vitals. This fall, the VCC is rolling out remote blood pressure monitoring support in the clinic for Nephrology fellows. Essentially, the nephrology fellow will see a patient with high blood pressure and order a home monitor that connects to Duke/VCC by Bluetooth and smartphone app. The patient checks vitals at home on a schedule. The VCC helps the patient with initial device setup and monitors for critically high or low blood pressure readings. The fellow or attending physician receives a data summary in a useful format to make treatment decisions.
The possibilities for education and research are exciting, Cameron notes, and are just beginning to be explored more fully at Duke.