Finding Investments for Virtual Care Initiatives

The good news is that there are a lot of grants available that can provide seed money to begin a virtual care program. The bad news is that there is no magic bullet that will cover the expense of time, equipment, and staff. Our clients tell us that the trick is to find as many “small” returns as possible in the form of grants, direct billings, and tele visit reimbursements so that you can create the space for the larger returns in the form of reduced labor costs and fall prevention. If your system has grant writers, we’ve had clients find upwards of $5 million in aid. Some services such as stroke can help marginally with direct billings, and it is possible to get reimbursements for small tele inpatient visit reimbursements. While those numbers are not staggering, the potential ROI on tactics such as eICU, tele-consults, virtual sitting, and virtual nursing are. In a recent one-year pilot at one small hospital, Virtual Sitting alone reduced staff costs by nearly $1 million dollars. These ROI-based metrics can dwarf direct financial subsidies but take time to validate and share inside of your health system. Healthcare clients who have built successful programs tell us that the investment they made tracking down every source of seed and sustainment money bought them the time they needed to demonstrate this ROI of virtual care and helped them unlock those larger returns. In addition, structuring programs that do not have large upfront investments (e.g., capital equipment) or lock-in allows your system to evaluate returns and expand based on them – allowing you to deliver on programs that might otherwise take years to justify. Stay up to date on LookDeep news by following our LinkedIn page.