There is no doubt that virtual care programs can be awesome, but sometimes awesome isn’t enough to make harried clinicians take notice and refer their patients to awesome.
Most of us have our habits, when it comes to patient referral: the medicine service, the specialists we have worked with for years, the two or three rehab facilities we know best. It’s not that we don’t want to offer our patients virtual care instead, we just forget. Or we remember, but we forget how to make the referral so it doesn’t happen.
I’ve seen this time and again: virtual care leaders build a truly awesome program. They develop informational materials that are distributed by email, they meet with department leads, and even do grand rounds. And they wait for the referrals. And they wait…
Success comes from pulling patients into your virtual care program instead of waiting for your colleagues to push them in. Figure out where the eligible patients are - in the CHF clinic, in the emergency department, on the observation census. Text/page/call the admitting provider and get in their face, “It struck me that Ms. Jones would be perfect for our new virtual care program. Would it be okay if I discussed it with Ms. Jones, and if she’s amenable, facilitate the transfer?” Then, make sure to follow-up with your colleague and report back on how well they did in your awesome virtual care program.
In time, your colleagues will remember to push. But at the beginning, it’s all about the pull.