Virtual triage for public health and governments

And this shift is not surprising.

Public health systems globally are constantly under pressure to improve efficiency, reduce spending, and increase the capacity and level of care they provide to potentially millions of people. By deploying AI at strategic points throughout the healthcare system, government health departments are able to do all of this for a fraction of the cost of revamping a traditional healthcare ecosystem.

In this article, we dive into the benefits of AI as a virtual triage tool in the public health sector—from navigating patients to improving access, to crisis management and encouraging the use of preventative services.

Looking for information on what virtual triage is, features, safety, applications across the healthcare industry, and challenges? Read our guide to virtual triage symptom checkers.

Why public health systems are now prioritizing virtual triage solutions

The use of virtual triage solutions as a digital front door for healthcare services has been tried and tested in the industry for years. Insurance companies, healthcare providers, and telehealth organizations have borne the brunt of trialing and testing this new technology, while public health systems have generally taken a more prudent approach.

Yet, over the years, these technologies have grown in popularity and proven their value in various sectors of the healthcare industry, prompting those in charge of public sector health spending to stand up and start dipping their toes in the digital waters.

Benefits of virtual triage for the public health sector

Virtual triage takes the guesswork out of finding appropriate care

Our study shows that when searching for healthcare services 74% of people don’t know the right level of care for their needs. This means that nearly three-quarters of people are unaware of the severity of their symptoms, can’t navigate the healthcare system structure, or are unsure whether they should book a telemedicine appointment or visit the emergency room, for example.

Virtual triage takes the guesswork out of finding the right care at the right time. Using a symptom checker, patients can enter details about their current healthcare concerns and receive accurate guidance on the best next step. Virtual triage tools can also be integrated with internal booking systems to direct patients to suitable appointments.

Navigating people to the right healthcare services and triaging them correctly allows government health systems to optimize the resources they have available and reduce unnecessary costs related to the overutilization of costly healthcare services.

Here are just a few examples of real-life implementations that are making a difference in the healthcare industry today.

• Directing low acuity cases away from the emergency room: Healthdirect Australia diverts half of emergency calls to less acute services, helping to reduce unnecessary emergency room visits, which cost around $47 billion a year in the US.

• Encouraging self-care in low acuity cases: By providing accurate information and educative articles, symptom checker and virtual triage solutions can offer assistance to patients who are able to care for their symptoms from home. When self-care is advised, 69.5% of users intend to follow the self-care recommendation.

• Advancing care referral for high-acuity cases: Virtual triage can help with the early detection of critical conditions and steer patients to get medical attention that they hadn’t previously considered. Our study shows that, 2 in every 1,000 symptom assessments are potentially life-saving.

• Giving patients the guidance they need: Virtual triage helps direct patients to the correct care for their condition. 35% of patients changed the level of care they intended to seek following recommendations from virtual triage. 

• Reducing unnecessary spending: In the US, the average cost of treating primary care conditions in an emergency department is $530–2,032. In comparison, if that same patient visits a primary care setting, it would cost, on average, $167. Virtual triage reduces inappropriate use of expensive services, thus reducing costs for public health and government systems.

Improving access to healthcare services with virtual triage

Public health and government healthcare systems have a duty of care to their citizens, whoever they are, wherever they are, whenever they need help. Yet, providing comprehensive healthcare around the clock to potentially millions of people in various locations is a challenge, and one that is getting more and more difficult as staffing shortages increase—the WHO estimates a shortfall of 11 million health workers by 2030.

Virtual triage helps to eliminate traditional healthcare challenges, such as location, time of day, and staffing resources. We’ve picked a few examples to point out here, but there are many more ways that virtual triage can increase accessibility.

• Providing 24/7 access to healthcare: By utilizing a virtual triage solution, public health systems can offer access to healthcare information around the clock, no longer needing to be limited to regular operating hours. Medis, a large Portuguese health insurer, reports that 20% of virtual symptom assessments take place outside of physician operating hours.

• Reaching rural populations: For those living in rural areas, accessing a healthcare facility can be challenging and large portions of the population can feel let down by their local authorities if they are not well provided for. By offering digital healthcare solutions, such as virtual triage and telemedicine combinations, local healthcare authorities are able to extend their reach to these underserved areas and offer guidance and support through digital means.

• Catering for carers, families, and those with limited mobility: Virtual triage combined with digital healthcare solutions gives people the opportunity to conduct a preliminary self-assessment at home, increasing access to healthcare by reducing transportation barriers for those who can’t easily attend in-person visits.

Crisis management: Lessons learned from COVID-19

If COVID-19 taught us anything, it was that the healthcare sector wasn’t prepared to deal with large-scale crises. While, on a positive note, it accelerated the use of digital healthcare solutions—virtual triage usage surged by 160% from the pre-pandemic to the post-vaccine period—public health systems and governments worldwide have been under scrutiny for their response to and ability to deal with the pandemic.

Due to its accessibility and scalability, virtual triage can play a huge role in maintaining a steady connection between people and healthcare services during war, natural disasters, global pandemics, or even seasonal spikes, such as flu season. 

A recent peer-reviewed paper, conducted on behalf of Infermedica, studied the reporting of mental health symptoms in Europe prior to and following the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Ukrainian users reported an 11.6% rise in mental health symptoms since the conflict started. Infermedica’s virtual triage tool proved to be a vital resource in detecting these mental health challenges.

• Real-time crisis detection: Public health systems can track surges in conditions being reported in real time. Allowing authorities to collect data, be aware of population health and vulnerable demographics, and implement strategies to minimize health risks from the very onset.

• Scalable to handle increased demand: Unlike in-person triage, digital tools are not overwhelmed by sudden surges in demand. Symptom checker and virtual triage tools can assess potentially thousands of patients simultaneously, sustaining a bridge between healthcare services and the population even during challenging times.

• Prepared crisis response: With virtual triage solutions already in place, governments and public health plans can quickly respond during a crisis. Data gathered over time allows governments to be proactive in their strategies and real-time data reporting enables emergency response strategies to be enacted rapidly when necessary.

Increasing the use of screenings and preventive services for better population health

As the adage goes, ‘prevention is better than cure.’ 

For government health sectors, encouraging the use of preventative care programs, such as vaccines, cancer screenings, or programs to quit smoking, can greatly reduce the burden of preventable diseases later on. Symptom checker and virtual triage solutions are excellent for understanding the needs of individuals in the population and directing them towards the right preventative care services.

• Engage and encourage use of preventive services based on individual risk factors: Virtual symptom checkers help public health systems engage with their patients beyond the four walls of a clinical setting. By building a profile; height, weight, daily habits, countries travelled, medical history, current medication, alcohol consumption, etc; the symptom checker is able to determine the health risks of that person. Once this is established, the virtual triage solution can recommend preventative programs, screenings, or vaccinations to fit the individual’s risk factors—highly engaged users are 34% more likely to use preventive services and 10% more likely to get vaccinated.

• Early detection of diseases: Both self-service symptom checkers and those used via nurse-advice lines are able to help with the early detection of diseases by analyzing a person’s symptoms and encouraging them to seek medical advice sooner than they might otherwise have intended to. In one study, we discovered that 33.5% of users with symptoms of a heart attack hadn’t planned a medical consultation before completing virtual triage.

Want to learn more about virtual triage for public health and governments?

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