The Drum Must Beat On: COVID-19 and the U.S. Military's Virtual Health Response in Europe.

In response to COVID-19 international restriction of movement laws, the closure of health care facilities, and an ongoing need to support a medically ready force, the U.S. Department of Defense's Virtual Health Europe (VHE) program spearheaded a campaign for synchronous video virtual health (VH) across 42 specialties. Overcoming the challenges of a VH platform designed for nonclinical video teleconferencing, VHE augmented an existing pool of >300 VH-trained providers with an additional 276 providers who collectively performed >4,000 synchronous VH visits between 71 countries from April 2020 through May 2020. Providers proved eager to utilize VH to bring health care to the point of need, however, new challenges emerged highlighted by unreliable and poor connectivity, military-specific network security challenges, and an unfamiliarity with VH etiquette by patients. Addressing the hypothesized third wave of health care demand due to COVID-19 through VH is critical not only for ongoing military readiness requirements, but holds lessons both good and bad for civilian health care delivery as well.

Operational Virtual Health Modalities Increased Combat Power for 1st Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment During the Enhanced Forward Presence Mission.

INTRODUCTION: Virtual Health (VH) is posited to be a force multiplier for Military Medicine, delivering digital healthcare to the point of need for the warfighter. To date, there are no studies on the impact of both synchronous and asynchronous VH modalities during a deployment. VH usage by the 1st Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment (1/2 CR) during a 6 month deployment to rural Poland was evaluated prospectively to identify mission days saved for Commanders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: VH Europe staff trained 1/2 CR Garrison and Deployed Medical Staff on VH modalities. Workflows for communication to higher echelons of medical care were developed. Usage of VH was prospectively tracked to identify trends and outcomes. RESULTS: 213 Soldier Mission Days during a 6 month deployment were saved through the use of VH versus in-person travel for care. The predominance of VH was for synchronous video VH for the Warfighter (VIEW) (90%), followed by asynchronous Health Experts onLine Portal (HELP) consultations (10%). Lost Soldier productivity of $87,330 was avoided. CONCLUSION: Operational VH is a force multiplier that brings the resources of the Medical Center to the Warfighter at the point of need. The full spectrum of VH modalities offers the greatest benefit for deployed units. Expansion of these technologies throughout the Department of Defense will reduce medical evacuations, increase Active Duty Service Member time on mission, and reduce risks for Commanders.

Military Medicine Implements In-home Virtual Health in Europe.

OBJECTIVE: This report outlines a multispecialty implementation effort which included 12 specialty practices and 28 clinicians within Regional Health Command Europe (RHCE) and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) to pilot an in-home virtual health (VH) program using existing resources. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Synchronous VH encounters were performed using an Acano desktop conferencing client (Cisco Systems, Inc, San Jose, CA) and a USB web camera at the provider (distant) site and the patient's own computer or device in the home. A web real-time conferencing (Web RTC) server provided the connections. RESULTS: Between October 2016 and May 2018, 310 synchronous VH appointments to patients' homes in 23 geographic locations in 9 countries on 3 different continents were completed; 28 skill type I and II specialty providers at LRMC, SHAPE Belgium Army Health Clinic (AHC), and Vilseck AHC, Germany Primary Care Clinic participated. The providers represented 9 distinct specialties and primary care. Appointment types were as follows: 85 (39%) follow-up type appointments; 70 (32%) group type appointments; 65 (30%) initial specialty care appointments. The 3 most active clinics were Pediatric Gastroenterology with 88 (28%), the Nutrition Clinic with 82 (26%), and the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic with 63 (20%) encounters. Full audio and video connectivity rate was 97%, excluding reconnects after dropped calls which occasionally occurred. Patient satisfaction scores were high 16/17 (94%) with 5% of patients surveyed. CONCLUSION: Low complexity synchronous VH appointments were successfully accomplished across a broad spectrum of health care services and appointment types. Landstuhl RMC specialists received consults from sites across a vast geographic area including Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. An in-home VH option gives providers a special tool to extend services far beyond traditional boundaries. This pilot project helped RHCE and LRMC providers gain valuable experience extending care to the home and will provide foundational knowledge for future VH efforts targeting groups and outcomes.