Lessons Learned from Offering Video Visits as an Alternative to Phone Visits: A Case Study from a Safety-Net Obstetrics Clinics

Abstract

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, human-centered design work in San Francisco found video visits promising for Medicaid-insured pregnant individuals. They were deemed likely better than phone at addressing concerns about remoteness. We describe our experience with introducing video visits within a safety net clinic that had rapidly adopted phone visits as the standard telemedicine option early in the pandemic. By utilizing Kotter’s change framework, providing an equity-focused vision, and supporting the implementation with a skilled, on-the-ground project manager, temporary uptake of offering video visits was achieved. However, competing priorities, staffing structure, and institutional culture were barriers to creating sustained change once grant funding ended, even after improvement of digital infrastructure. Efforts to increase video visit uptake in systems where telephone visits are the norm—as is in many safety net systems—may have limited success without leadership-driven prioritization and culture change at all levels.