MDLive Announces Enhanced Virtual Care Platform For Patients With Chronic Conditions

MDLive Announces Enhanced Virtual Care Platform For Patients With Chronic Conditions, MDLive – an Evernorth company and one of the country’s top virtual care providers – has announced the next phase of development for its rapidly expanding virtual primary care program, in a bid to provide better assistance to patients with chronic conditions.

Evernorth’s goal with this program is to create new models of care delivery that will give patients easy, stress-free access to quality medical care at a lower cost and with better overall health outcomes.

Beginning in 2019, new tools for managing chronic conditions will be available to the millions of people who use MDLive as part of their health benefits. Starting with hypertension patients, the program will gradually add support for other health issues by the end of 2023.

Members and their MDLive primary care providers will collaborate on a comprehensive treatment plan that may include diagnostic testing, medication adjustments, dietary and lifestyle changes, and the coordination of care with specialists. Devices like blood pressure cuffs and glucose meters allow doctors to monitor their patients remotely in between office visits.

The end goal is to create a streamlined process that provides quick access to more vital data for doctors.

“This is the next evolution in MDLIVE’s virtual primary care program as we continue to build services that support the health needs of more patients throughout their health journey,” said Jon Salon, president of MDLive. “Together, Evernorth and MDLIVE are innovating care delivery to create seamless connected experiences to make care easier to access and to improve the health of our patients—however, wherever and whenever they want to receive care.”

Maggie Williams, the Medical Director at MDLive, said that the virtual primary care initiative will help build deeper and more meaningful relationships between patients and their physicians, which will ultimately cut costs for the former while improving their short- and long-term health outcomes.

Williams added that through this program, the coordination of healthcare will move to the next level, benefiting all parties involved. With more patient data available to healthcare providers, the quality and efficiency of services will definitely improve.

According to MDLive’s analysis, chronic care management services are in high demand as the number of people accessing healthcare virtually increases. Nearly 70% of people who used its services for a preventative checkup were found to have a chronic condition. In addition, MDLive has seen a mammoth 300% increase in the use of virtual primary care since last year.

MDLive is just one of many healthcare firms showing interest in virtual healthcare programs. In the last few months of 2021, UnitedHealth combined the services of its Optum physician network with those of its payer arm, UnitedHealthcare, to introduce a virtual-first primary care offering. Moreover, In October last year, Teladoc, a virtual primary care provider, made its pilot program widely available to commercial health plans, employers, and other benefit sponsors in the country.

But that’s not all; next year, Aetna members will also have access to CVS Health’s new virtual care platform, developed in collaboration with Amwell and featuring online primary care and chronic illness assistance.

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