Virtual Care Innovation Network

The COVID-19 pandemic emergency disrupted regular health care, but nowhere more so than care for low-income and unhoused patients in the safety net.  Soon afterward, however, many clinics incorporated telehealth to reach these vulnerable populations.

Through the Virtual Care Innovation Network, a community health collaboration founded by Kaiser Permanente and administered by the Center for Care Innovations, safety net organizations across nine states redesigned care for the pandemic and beyond. Using a hybrid care model, the clinics incorporated telehealth into their outreach. The Community Clinic of Maui, for example, sends a mobile team to tent cities along the coast equipped with a computer telehealth platform to link patients to the doctor, while Los Angeles and Orange County patients in treatment for substance use disorder can receive therapy and provider visits on their cell phone. "A lot of us don't have transportation or are under house arrest so it's hard to get to the clinic," explained one grateful patient, "but if you have a phone, it's all right there." The videos were created by Beth Freeman and team for the Center for Care Innovations and Kaiser Permanente as part of CCI's Virtual Care Innovations Network, a virtual health collaboration that was founded by Kaiser Permanente. To click on the videos, keep scrolling.

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