Research Priorities to Expand Virtual Care Access for Patients in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

Abstract

The rapid expansion of virtual care is driving demand for equitable, high-quality access to technologies that are required to utilize these services. While the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seen as a national leader in the implementation of telehealth, there remain gaps in evidence about the most promising strategies to expand access to virtual care. To address these gaps, in 2022, the VA's Health Services Research and Development service and Office of Connected Care held a "state-of-the-art" (SOTA) conference to develop research priorities for advancing the science, clinical practice, and implementation of virtual care. One workgroup within the SOTA focused on access to virtual care and addressed three questions: (1) Based on the existing evidence about barriers that impede virtual care access in digitally vulnerable populations, what additional research is needed to understand these factors? (2) Based on the existing evidence about digital inclusion strategies, what additional research is needed to identify the most promising strategies? and (3) What additional research beyond barriers and strategies is needed to address disparities in virtual care access? Here, we report on the workgroup's discussions and recommendations for future research to improve and optimize access to virtual care. Effective implementation of these recommendations will require collaboration among VA operational leadership, researchers, Human Factors Engineering experts and front-line clinicians as they develop, implement, and evaluate the spread of virtual care access strategies.