With a federal grant, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has begun work to establish a center to study equity in virtual healthcare.
While telehealth services have made healthcare more convenient to some groups, certain populations remain underserved due to lack of access to technology and financial instability. The challenge of promoting health equity in virtual care is often overlooked due to the complex issues involved in implementing virtual care, such as patient privacy, reimbursement models, new workflows, and technology adoption.
The UNC researchers have been awarded a $3.73 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences for a five-year project to build out the Center for Virtual Care Value and Equity (ViVE), which is led by Saif Khairat, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor and Beerstecher-Blackwell Distinguished Term Scholar in the UNC School of Nursing.
“This groundbreaking initiative is pivotal for healthcare innovation and demonstrates Carolina’s leadership in virtual care research,” said Khairat, associate director of the Carolina Health Informatics Program and director of the Carolina Applied Informatics Research Lab, in a statement. “The Center for ViVE will foster expertise in virtual care data and create workforce development opportunities with its partners throughout North Carolina and the nation.”
UNC said that Khairat and co-investigators will create the foundation needed to support the advancement of translational research in the field of virtual care.
“We are very fortunate to have such an amazing community at Carolina and throughout the region to support this work,” says ViVE co-investigator and UNC Health Chief Medical Informatics Officer David McSwaim, M.D., M.P.H., in a statement. “With world-class information resources, incredible clinicians, and leadership across the institution dedicated to supporting health and well-being for all, this collaborative effort can truly change the landscape of virtual care development not only in North Carolina, but around the world.”
ViVE will build a repository of real-world virtual care data not previously available to researchers. The center will also develop frameworks to guide investigators through the design, implementation, and evaluation of virtual care research, offering training and support throughout the process.
The university's North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) will support ViVE in drawing expertise from collaborators across Carolina and UNC Health, as well as virtual care and telehealth researchers from RTI International, the American Heart Association, American Medical Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics.
Besides seeking to accelerate equity research in virtual care, ViVE will also leverage partnerships across the broader NIH Clinical and Translational Science Program network by producing resources and information that will fill that critical gap in health access and equity. The network will help disseminate and promote ViVE tools, educational resources, and training events.
“During the pandemic, we all realized virtual care’s importance,” said Spencer Dorn, M.D., M.P.H., M.H.A., ViVE co-investigator and professor of medicine in the UNC School of Medicine, in a statement. “The newly funded center will help us determine how to harness virtual care to benefit all populations. This is core to our mission as the nation’s oldest public university.”
The center will provide opportunities for investigators and students at UNC-Chapel Hill who are interested in virtual care research to request data, consult with experts, and attend education and training events.
