World-first technology launches to unlock preventative, proactive and predictive healthcare

AUCKLAND, August 31, 2023 

Global leader in population health, Orion Health, is ushering in the next era of health – moving from institution-centric reactive sick care to people-centred preventative, proactive and predictive healthcare. 

Digital Front Doors (DFD) will rewire health systems globally and Orion Health’s DFD, Virtuoso, sets a new benchmark in improving the healthcare experience for all. 

Virtuoso is already serving 15 million people in North America. It helps to engage people in their own healthcare journey whilst supporting health systems’ current constraints in care delivery, such as spiralling costs and healthcare worker burnout. 

Virtuoso helps healthcare systems to deliver the right care (often online), at the right place (sometimes at home), at the right time (ideally before people are really unwell).

Brad Porter, Orion Health Chief Executive Officer, says Virtuoso is a product in demand with global healthcare systems under significant pressure and is expected to be part of a multi-billion-dollar global sector within the next two years. 

“DFDs are the online banking of healthcare, yet they are vastly more complex. For the first time, people will be truly active participants in their own healthcare. They’ll have streamlined access to their complete medical history from primary care and specialists, through to hospital interventions. 

“We can now connect fragmented health data silos, enabling people to interact with health information and make informed decisions in the same way they do with financial, travel and retail transactions. 

“This isn’t some dressed-up patient portal. Virtuoso is a tailored, community-specific, highly accessible platform that integrates complicated healthcare systems. It enables average joes like you and me to take control of our own health,” says Porter. 

Nearly 15 million people in Ontario, Canada, are the first in the world to benefit from this technology. 

In Ontario’s case, Virtuoso supports its ambitious goals of making the healthcare system easier to access and navigate while ending hallway medicine by providing alternatives to the emergency department for millions of Ontarians. The ultimate goal of Virtuoso in Ontario is to make the patient experience more convenient by expanding individual and family access to services by integrating their whole care team, and streamlining tasks normally done by overburdened healthcare workers. 

Virtuoso starts by providing advice and guidance regarding where and when to seek medical advice and care. It functions as a healthcare navigation service, guiding patients to the best level and location of care for their situation.  

The Virtuoso Digital Front Door brings together new and existing health information, data, solutions and services into one integrated suite of tools. 

Virtuoso can include:

  • AI-powered symptom assessment tool
  • Accredited Health knowledge hub
  • Verified medical library
  • Accredited Health Services Directory 
  • Find-a-service
  • Access to digital health records 
  • Translation service
  • Website or mobile app
  • 24/7 online chat
  • Nurse-led call center 
  • Virtual consultations
  • Health service navigation support
  • Wellness support and groups
  • Feedback forms and surveys
  • Appointment booking
  • Appointment scheduling

Dr. Chris Hobson, Orion Health Chief Medical Officer, says Virtuoso is poised to empower people to navigate healthcare systems and ease medical practitioners’ workload by shifting care to more suitable locations such as home or community clinics. 

“Access to healthcare hasn’t evolved much in my lifetime. We’ve got the same waiting rooms, the same routine questions, and the same paper-based prescriptions. It all depends too much on the nurses’ and doctors’ availability, which is creating unsustainable pressure. We’re seeing far too much care occurring in hospitals. So we’ve got to find ways to lighten the load of healthcare workers and reduce physical contact between people and the health system where appropriate.

“We all deserve access to systems that deliver the right care, at the right place and the right time. To achieve this we need technology like Virtuoso to do the heavy lifting, so we can save our frontline healthcare workers for the jobs only people can do” says Hobson.  

For more information visit www.orionhealth.com/digitalfrontdoor/