Qualitative Assessment of Rapid System Transformation to Primary Care Video Visits at an Academic Medical Center.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic spurred health systems across the world to quickly shift from in-person visits to safer video visits.

OBJECTIVE: To seek stakeholder perspectives on video visits' acceptability and effect 3 weeks after near-total transition to video visits.

DESIGN: Semistructured qualitative interviews.

SETTING: 6 Stanford general primary care and express care clinics at 6 northern California sites, with 81 providers, 123 staff, and 97 614 patient visits in 2019.

PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-three program participants (overlapping roles as medical providers [ n = 20], medical assistants [ n = 16], nurses [ n = 4], technologists [ n = 4], and administrators [ n = 13]) were interviewed about video visit transition and challenges.

INTERVENTION: In 3 weeks, express care and primary care video visits increased from less than 10% to greater than 80% and from less than 10% to greater than 75%, respectively. New video visit providers received video visit training and care quality feedback. New system workflows were created to accommodate the new visit method.

MEASUREMENTS: Nine faculty, trained in qualitative research methods, conducted 53 stakeholder interviews in 4 days using purposeful (administrators and technologists) and convenience (medical assistant, nurses, and providers) sampling. A rapid qualitative analytic approach for thematic analysis was used.

RESULTS: The analysis revealed 12 themes, including Pandemic as Catalyst; Joy in Medicine; Safety in Medicine; Slipping Through the Cracks; My Role, Redefined; and The New Normal. Themes were analyzed using the RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework to identify critical issues for continued program utilization.

LIMITATIONS: Evaluation was done immediately after deployment. Although viewpoints may have evolved later, immediate evaluation allowed for prompt program changes and identified broader issues to address for program sustainability.

CONCLUSION: After pandemic-related systems transformation at Stanford, critical issues to sustain video visit long-term viability were identified. Specifically, technology ease of use must improve and support multiparty videoconferencing. Providers should be able to care for their patients, regardless of geography. Providers need decision-making support with virtual examination training and home-based patient diagnostics. Finally, ongoing video visit reimbursement should be commensurate with value to the patients' health and well-being.

PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Stanford Department of Medicine and Stanford Health Care.