New technology services, like virtual visits, have improved access to health care for patients located in the vast Northeastern Minnesota region, local health experts say. These changes were on the horizon for the health care industry, but the coronavirus pandemic increased the speed of adoption.

Essentia Health was well-prepared to take on virtual visits.

Before the pandemic hit, the Duluth-based health care system was preparing to roll out a virtual visit pilot program for a small group of patients with chronic conditions. But the start of the pandemic mandated an expansion, and they rolled out the program system-wide.

“What we recognized was the impact of COVID. We were able to see how devastating the disease was elsewhere,” said Dr. Sarah Manney, Essentia’s chief information medical officer. “We recognized how rapidly it could spread and how that was coming our way.”

Essentia is now close to holding 250,000 video and phone virtual visits. It also launched a virtual urgent care service in June, which has garnered around 1,100 visits, and has a free virtual visit for patients with COVID-19 or respiratory symptoms.

Even with the reopening of some clinics, they plan to continue virtual visits as patients with certain needs find them easier to access. Their goal is that virtual visits make up around 25-30% of all visits in the future, Manney said.

People with depression or anxiety, she said, find it easy to go online and access their physicians. No-show and rescheduling rates for mental health visits have “dramatically improved,” Manney said.

In-home technology has also allowed providers to better understand their patients’ lives.

For example, Manney said, she knows one dietitian who has patients show what’s in their kitchen cabinets and how large a serving size is on their own plates.

Survey results show that patients have been mostly receptive to these changes.

In a May survey of patients who attended virtual visits, Essentia reports that over 82% of the 377 surveyed adults strongly agreed with the statement, “I received care I needed during the virtual visit.” While over 12% somewhat agreed, more than 3% somewhat disagreed and less than 2% strongly disagreed with the statement.

Down the road at St. Luke’s hospital, technology changes have moved just as fast.

St. Luke’s rolled out virtual visits to its patients when the pandemic took hold. Since its start, they’ve held around 25,000 remote visits, CEO and President Dr. Kevin Nokels said.

The hospital was equipped to hold virtual visits before the pandemic began, Nokels said, but health insurance companies wouldn’t cover the cost.

“We were ready, it was a matter of turning some things on,” he said.

In addition to virtual visits, the hospital has several new technology offerings in its recently opened emergency department, like the latest CAT scan technology and negative airflow rooms, Nokels said.

And, in March, they launched a nurse hotline for patient questions. Over 10,000 calls have been made to the hotline, he said.

“We’re constantly looking and challenging how we do things (and) how do we do things better,” he said.

The rapid acceleration of technology has increased access for the geographically large Northeastern Minnesota region, Manney said.

With visits available at their fingertips, patients don’t have to drive for hours, pull children out of school, navigate challenging weather or take time off work for appointments.

“We accelerated a decade in three short months,” Manney said.

There were safety concerns about online visits, concerns that both patients and providers have raised. These concerns were considered during Essentia’s preparation for the pilot program. As a result, they use a privacy laws-compliant Zoom service, Manney said.

Looking to the future of their industry, Manney said patients should expect more in-home health devices.

Essentia plans to introduce software that connects devices, like blood pressure cuffs, to a patient’s online medical record. Manney said this will help providers monitor patients who may have chronic conditions.

Nokels foresees a rethinking of hospital structures, he said. The need for large buildings filled with hospital beds will decline, as more people will be hospitalized in their own homes.

For example, if a patient has pneumonia, a hospital would admit them to stay at home and monitor them remotely. This would cut costs across the industry, which Nokels calls a “significant problem,” as buildings are a major driver of health care costs.

“Certainly, health care (and) our world has been forever impacted by COVID-19, but there’s been things that will come out of this that I think are going to be positive for the long term,” Nokels said.