HHC 24/7 has improved access to care for patients.
Hartford HealthCare's new virtual care service, HHC 24/7, has boosted access to primary care services and provided an opportunity to recruit new clinicians.
HHC 24/7, which launched in April, is being offered in a partnership with K Health. An HHC 24/7 visit starts with the patient interacting with an AI tool that generates a patient chart for HHC 24/7 physicians and advanced practice providers who are employed by Hartford HealthCare.
So far, there have been nearly 30,000 HHC 24/7 patient visits, and more than 46,000 people have created HHC 24/7 accounts.
Padmanabhan Premkumar, MD, is president of Hartford HealthCare Medical Group. Photo courtesy of Hartford HealthCare.
The numbers reflect a need for this kind of service, according to Padmanabhan Premkumar, MD, president of Hartford HealthCare Medical Group.
"It shows the need for access to care across the state of Connecticut," Premkumar says. "There is a shortage of primary care in the state. Sometimes, it can take weeks if not months to set up a primary care appointment. The HHC 24/7 numbers show that patients want care when they need it."
HHC 24/7 has added a valuable care access point for patients at the health system, according to Premkumar.
"We want to create multiple front doors for access to care," Premkumar says. "With HHC 24/7, we are in the palms of people's hands, and we are in their homes allowing them to get access to care when they need it and how they need it. HHC 24/7 also provides patients with the opportunity to connect with other Hartford HealthCare services."
When HHC 24/7 launched, health system leadership hoped that it would provide an opportunity to recruit more clinicians, because some providers want to work in a virtual care environment. The service has met these expectations.
"HHC 24/7 has definitely helped Hartford HealthCare from a clinician recruitment standpoint," Premkumar says. "With the patient volume we have seen on HHC 24/7, we are going to have to recruit more clinicians to provide the service."
The virtual care service is also generating a positive patient and provider experience.
"Patients can download the app, then they can subsequently interact with the AI," Premkumar says. "The AI tool that is part of HHC 24/7 significantly reduces the burden on patients of repeating their story to the provider that they get connected with. Unlike a visit in a provider's office, many questions that a provider asks are already answered by the AI."
The physicians and advanced practice providers who staff the HHC 24/7 service have also reported a positive experience.
"We see more patients per hour on the HHC 24/7 app than we see in our offices because AI is generating a patient chart before the visits," Premkumar says. "The providers are seeing the benefit of the technology, and the technology continues to get better on a day-to-day basis."
Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Since Hartford HealthCare's new virtual primary care service, HHC 24/7, launched in April, there have been nearly 30,000 patient visits.
A key element of the service is an AI tool that generates a patient chart before the virtual visit.
HHC 24/7 is generating positive patient and provider experiences.