Top 6 Virtual Care Solutions for Healthcare Providers

Virtual care adaptation has experienced massive growth in recent years. In the US alone, virtual visits have jumped from 5 million to 53 million due to shifted demand after the pandemic. This sharp rise has benefited healthcare organizations and patients – according to a study by the  American Community Survey, the use of virtual care solutions saved up to $1.6 million for 11,600 participants. Additionally, virtual care has enhanced accessibility to healthcare for relatively less affluent communities.

In other words, virtual care makes sense for financial and strategic reasons.

A solid virtual care solution is the center of your telehealth services. Therefore, selecting the right solution for your organization requires much consideration.

To help with your search, we have compiled a detailed comparison of popular virtual care solutions. We have discussed their features, positives, and negatives from an unbiased point of view.

Without further ado, let’s jump into specifics.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Virtual Care Solution

As you probably know, a virtual care solution has a massive impact on many fronts– from daily workflows to crucial business decisions such as service offerings and staffing levels. That’s why a purchase decision often involves multiple stakeholders.

Key decisive factors may vary from one organization to another. That said, it is always a good idea to start with the most common considerations.

Current Technological Capabilities

Your ideal choice of a virtual care solution also depends on your organization’s current tech capabilities. For example, choose a solution that offers the required APIs if you use multiple third-party applications. Alternatively, if you have a legacy EHR system, look for a solution that integrates seamlessly.

Strategic Alignment

If you plan to expand your specialist consultant service to a remote region, wouldn’t you want a solution that can deliver decent video quality even on poor networks? Or, while catering to older patients, wouldn’t you look for a super-intuitive solution?

Long story short, your choice should align with your strategic goals. To find this compatible solution, you need to pay extra attention to user experience, existing features, and tech support quality.

Impact on Your Workflows

Your health staff is already accustomed to specific workflows. If your new virtual care system requires a complete overhaul of existing workflows, then that can put extra strain on your health professionals and resources.

Therefore, you want to talk to your staff, review your workflows, and pick a solution that either minimally affects or improves them.

Security and Legal Compliances

Many countries require strict legal compliance from health service providers while collecting, processing, and transferring ePHI. For instance, in the US, you must comply with HIPAA regulations; in Europe, you have GDPR rules.

Since your virtual care solution will generate and process a large chunk of your daily ePHI volume, it must be compliant with government regulations. Moreover, it would help if you inquired about data security measures before purchasing.

Ongoing Support

A reliable virtual care solution must come with reliable tech support. While it is not unusual to run into technical glitches, you should receive technical assistance immediately. Good support also means getting assistance while scaling up (or down).

Top 6 Virtual Care Solutions to Consider

Here, we selected the top 6 virtual care solutions based on performance, user reviews, niche applications, support, and features out of hundreds of choices. In the following section, you will find details of their features, strengths, and weaknesses.

• Enghouse Video
• Doxy.me
• Oracle Virtual Care
• Mend
• SecureVideo
• VCDoctor

Enghouse Video’s Virtual Care Solution

Enghouse Video is a customizable, easy-to-deploy, and reliable virtual care solution. It has been around since 2005, so the team has vast experience customizing and deploying it based on numerous health service providers and their unique needs.

In terms of features, Enghouse Video covers everything a health service provider needs. Here are some notable ones:

• Seamless integration with popular EHR systems (EPIC, Allscripts, Amwell, etc.)
• Omnichannel secured communication
• HIPAA-compliant solution
• Audio/video call
• 4k/5k HD video
• Intuitive patient portal
• Streamlined workflows and familiar icons.
• EHR integrations
• Reports

Things that Make Enghouse Video a Great Choice

Enghouse’s virtual care solutions scores an impressive 8.9/10 on TrustRadius; let’s see what has made it earn this recognition:

Strong Performance

Enghouse Video is known for delivering quality videos in low bandwidth and high latency connection areas.

For example, The state of Alaska has a challenging technology landscape. Yet, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium managed to serve patients across Alaska using Enghouse’s telehealth solution. Currently, ANTHC completes over 40k consults/year, and the number will increase in the coming years.

And it’s just one instance. In the last 20 years, Enghouse Video has supported numerous clients operating in various network conditions.

Note: Enghouse is built on its proprietary video technology, which removes dependency on any third-party platforms, giving it a technological advantage.

Flexible Deployment

If you want more control over data and security (or have well-established custom EHRs in place), you might not want to go for a 100% Cloud deployment. To help with that, the VidyoHealth team can provide on-premise or hybrid deployment options.

Also, this deployment takes place fast and without disrupting your workflows. Take the example of the Ochsner Health System. It took them just about a minute and a half to download the application, and by three weeks, Enghouse Video had become a critical part of Oschner’s daily operation across 80-plus locations.

EHR Compatibility

VidyoHealth offers EHR integrations for the most commonly used EHRs, including on-premise and cloud ones. This compatibility ensures increased clinical efficiency, data security, and legal compliance. (HIPAA, GDPR, and more)

Things That Go Against Enghouse Video

Enghouse is a powerful solution backed by an experienced team. It usually covers your needs (and if required, the professional services team helps in customizing as well). However, there is no free/trial option available, which can be inconvenient for customers who want to try before committing.

Pricing

Enghouse Video offers custom pricing. Feel free to get in touch with the team for more information.

Doxy.me

Doxy.me is a browser-based, virtual care platform that streamlines the delivery of virtual care for providers of different sizes. On Capterra, it has received 4.6 stars out of 5.

Features: Doxy.me offers several essential features required for virtual care. The list includes:

• HD video
• Audio call/ video call
• Virtual Waiting rooms
• HIPAA and GDPR compliant solution
• Meeting history.

Things Users Like About Doxy. me

• Ease of use: Doxy.me has an edge regarding user-friendliness. A 2017 study revealed that users spend the least time completing tasks using Doxy.me. Even in 2024, users appreciate its ease of use and often mention it in their reviews.
• Free plan: Doxy.me offers a free plan. It’s an excellent option for healthcare providers (especially small ones) to try virtual care without making an upfront investment.

Things That Go Against Doxy.me

• Doxy.me is an entirely cloud-based application. Therefore, there may be better options for if you are looking for an on-premise or hybrid solution.
• There is almost no discussion on how Doxy.me delivers high-quality videos on low-bandwidth, high-latency networks (or handles a sudden influx of patients).

Pricing

Doxy.me offers four pricing plans: free, Pro, Clinic, and Enterprise. The Pro plan starts at 24 USD/month. For more features, you either need a Clinic plan ($42/month/provider) or an Enterprise plan (custom pricing).

Oracle Virtual Care

If you are familiar with (or a fan of) the Oracle tech ecosystem, Oracle Virtual Care deserves your attention. This virtual care solution was born out of an Oracle and Zoom collaboration.

Features

• Integration with Cerner Millennium EHR
• GDPR, HIPAA, and Mars-E compliant solution
• High-quality video
• Alerts and notifications based on patient data captured in the clinical workflow
• Simple workflows
• Both patient-to-provider and provider-to-provider communication

Things You Must Consider

• There are not many public reviews available on this solution. However, Oracle has a good track record, and based on that, it should be at least a decent solution.
• If your organization already uses Oracle tech, especially Cerner EHR, this can fit well in your existing tech ecosystem.
• For those who use Oracle tech sparingly, you would be better off with other solutions simply because there is not much info available.

Pricing

To know about Oracle Virtual Care pricing, you have to contact sales. However, Oracle leans toward enterprise offerings overall. Therefore, the pricing might go on the higher side.

Mend

Mend is another well-deserving entry on this list. It is a web-based solution suitable for health organizations with 20 or more providers.

Mend has received a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 on Capterra.

Features: Mend also comes with a number of features that make both clients’ and providers’ lives easier. Here are a few notable ones:

• Automated Patient Payment
• EHR/PMS integration
• High-quality video
• EHR-integrated digital intake forms ( for collecting patient details)
• HIPAA compliant solution
• Patient self self-scheduling
• Appointment alerts.

Things Users Like About Mend

• Mend offers integrations for many popular PMSs and EHRs. You can find the complete list here.
• On review sites, users often mention how they find it super easy to use Mend’s features.

Things That Go Against Mend

• Apparently, Mend has had audio and video quality issues for some time. People have been complaining about this issue since 2022. Unfortunately, similar reviews have also emerged recently.
• It’s entirely cloud-based. Therefore, it’s not suitable for on-premise or hybrid deployment.
• We have found a concerning review claiming that Mend is not actually fully HIPAA compliant even after the contract said so.

We hope Mend has done everything to address that, but it is indeed a big dealbreaker.

Pricing

There is no publicly available information. You need to contact the sales team.

SecureVideo

Another decent virtual care solution is SecureVideo. This HIPAA-compliant solution currently serves 5,000 doctors, hospitals, and clinicians. It has 4.8 stars out of 5 based on 26 reviews on Capterra.

Features

• Hybrid video engine (users can either zoom for high resolution or one-click for a web-based experience)
• Cloud and local recording
• Clinical chat
• Virtual clinic
• HIPAA compliant solution
• The virtual waiting room and E-documents
• Appointment notification

Things Users Like About Securevideo

• The hybrid video engine feature offers tremendous flexibility. When HD video is required, users can switch to Zoom. However, the one-click video can get the job done in low-connectivity areas.
• Like any decent solution, Securevideo is reliable. Isolated events of outages and technical glitches are pretty rare.
• The end-user experience is satisfactory. Users find this intuitive and easy to use.

Things That Go Against Securevideo

• Securevideo depends on Zoom to deliver high-quality videos. However, Zoom itself has many security loopholes, and many organizations have banned it already, which can prevent many users from downloading it. Also, the fact that users need to download Zoom before video sessions doesn’t sound convenient at all (especially for less tech-savvy patients and older adults).
• Unlike its competitors, VidyoHealth and Mend, Securevideo doesn’t disclose the full extent of its EHR integration capabilities. Integration isn’t one of its strengths. Users have also mentioned EHR incompatibility issues. 

Pricing

Securevideo offers two plans: Unlimited ($50/month) and Enterprise (Custom pricing). However, you can try its services at zero cost for 14 days before selecting a plan.

VCDoctor

VCDoctor is a virtual care platform with AI capabilities. Like other entries on this list, it also helps clinics and hospitals provide virtual care through high-quality videos. On Capterra, it gets an excellent rating. However, that rating is based on only 4 reviews, so take that with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, it’s a decent choice.

Features

• Video consultation
• Appoint request and wallet management ( patients)
• Seamless communication ( provider-patient and one provider to another)
• HIPAA-compliant solution
• Wellness reports
• AI enchanted diagnosis (based on patient’s medical information)

Things to Remember Before Selecting VCDoctor

• Based on a handful of reviews and limited public information, the VCDoctor team appears to be able to accommodate some customization requests.
• Its AI capabilities can help providers by providing valuable insights and optimal treatment plans.
• There is no information available on what EHR integration VCDoctor supports.
• We found no information on its video quality/technology and how it scales with rising demands.

Pricing

VCDoctor has custom pricing. You have to contact the VCDoctor Sales team for more information.

What Sets VidyoHealth Apart as a Virtual Care Solution

The right virtual care solution for you depends on your unique needs. If a free trial is essential for you, you should start with a solution like Mend. Or, if you are a big Oracle supporter, you may want to take a look at its solution.

However, Enghouse Video’s Virtual Care platform has an edge overall. It offers robust video capabilities, a wide range of EHR integrations, flexible deployment options, ironclad data security, and an experienced tech team that is always willing to help.

Of course, some of its competitors do have some of these qualities. But very few excel across the board like VidyoHealth does.

Feel free to contact us to learn more.

FAQs

What is virtual care in healthcare?

Virtual care uses digital tools and technology to provide healthcare services remotely, including consultations, monitoring, and follow-ups.

Is virtual care more expensive?

Virtual care is often more cost-effective due to reduced overhead and travel costs, though expenses can vary by service and provider.

What’s the difference between telehealth and virtual care?

Telehealth encompasses all remote healthcare services, including telemedicine. Virtual care specifically refers to digital interactions between patients and providers.

What are the pros and cons of virtual care solutions?

Pros: Increased access, convenience, reduced travel, and cost savings.
Cons: Limited physical exams, technology barriers, data security concerns, variable quality of care.

Disclaimer – The insights presented in this article are sourced exclusively from publicly available information and customer reviews. Feel free to reach out if you require any modifications or updates to the content.