< + > Enabling Direct-to-Consumer Care Models

A lot of the world today is geared towards self-service and convenience for consumers. Self-checkout lanes in grocery stores, the many food and grocery delivery options, streaming services, etc. It is very geared to let consumers pick what they want, when they want it, and often brings it to wherever they are. Healthcare is no exception to this.

We reached out to our wonderful Healthcare IT Today Community to ask — how are health IT platforms enabling direct-to-consumer care models such as virtual visits, digital front doors, and on-demand services? The following are their answers.

Jason Griffin, Managing Director of Digital Health Strategy and Cyber Security Practice at Nordic
Health IT platforms are making direct-to-consumer care possible by connecting what patients want—convenient, digital-first access—with the clinical and operational systems that healthcare organizations already rely on. Consumers expect healthcare interactions to feel as seamless as the digital experiences they encounter in banking, retail, and travel. Platforms today support virtual visits, self-scheduling, online registration, digital intake, mobile communications, and personalized outreach through a unified digital front door. The goal is to reduce friction and give patients more control over how and when they access care.

These are no longer standalone tools. The most successful organizations are integrating consumer-facing applications with EHRs, CRM platforms, analytics solutions, and operational systems so patients can move smoothly between digital and in-person care. When that foundation is in place, organizations can deliver more convenient experiences while maintaining continuity across the care journey.

Michael Dalton, Founder and CEO at Ovatient
Health IT platforms, broadly speaking, are enabling direct-to-consumer care by making it easier for patients to find, schedule, access, and engage with care outside of the traditional clinic-based channels. The engagement and insights that these platforms are utilizing are what I find most fascinating.

I think what is going unappreciated from traditional models is that patients, because of LLMs and wearables, have never had more insight into their health. Patients are empowered with data and the questions to pose either to their favorite AI tool or their provider. We’re seeing a broader health ecosystem built principally around medication access, behavioral support, wearable data, and ongoing engagement.

I think this has also been one of the reasons for the exponential growth in MyChart messages between patients and providers, as recently shared in JAMA. We’re not going back, and I don’t think this will slow down.

Ben Maisono, SVP Strategy at Tendo
Health technology solutions that are being adopted have a consumer-grade experience that masks the complexities of access in healthcare and makes it easier. Convenience is the ultimate attribute for consumers with on-demand mindsets. AI triage is helping patients get recommended high-quality providers in a step-by-step evaluation process. This is introducing more shopping behavior than in the past because information is curated and organized in digestible steps for consumers now. We are seeing these engagement experiences adopted heavily in the commercial plan space for members as well to access Centers of Excellence care models.

Kamya Elawadhi, Co-Founder and President at Doceree
The shift to direct-to-consumer care is not a distribution change — it is a reimagining of where healthcare begins. The platforms enabling this most effectively are not simply digitizing the waiting room. They are embedding clinical intelligence, affordability tools, and care navigation directly into the first moment a patient engages. The most effective digital front doors anticipate need, surface relevant information, and reduce friction before care is even initiated. When consumers can understand options, verify coverage, and access support in a single, seamless interaction, care initiation and continuation improve significantly. What makes these platforms different is building around the clinical journey, not bolting onto it.

Dr. Scott Schell, Chief Medical Officer at Cognizant
Health IT platforms make direct-to-consumer care possible by moving more of the front end of healthcare outside the four walls of the clinic. Scheduling, intake, eligibility checks, virtual visits, remote monitoring, payment, and follow-up can now occur through consumer-facing digital channels. The larger shift is that these platforms increasingly act as orchestration layers rather than point solutions.

Consumers expect healthcare to behave more like every other service they use: accessible, responsive, and available on demand. Delivering that experience requires connecting access, clinical workflows, revenue cycle, and payer interactions into a single operating model. The organizations succeeding in direct-to-consumer care are not necessarily the ones with the best app. They are the ones that can translate consumer demand into coordinated clinical and administrative action at scale.

Kei Ishii, MD, Medical Strategy & Clinical Insights at Ubie
In digital healthcare, much of the discussion focuses on convenience, accessibility, and efficiency. However, one of the most overlooked aspects is trust. Patients gain confidence not simply because they receive an answer, but because they feel understood. In clinical practice, trust is built when a physician explores the patient’s symptoms thoughtfully, considers multiple possibilities, and demonstrates a genuine effort to understand what the patient is experiencing. As AI becomes a patient’s first point of contact, the challenge is not only providing the right recommendation, but also creating that same sense of understanding. Preserving trust and reassurance will be just as important as improving access and efficiency.

So many great points to consider here! Huge thank you to everyone who took the time out of their day to submit a quote to us! And thank you to all of you for taking the time out of your day to read this article! We could not do this without all of your support.

How do you do think health IT platforms are enabling direct-to-consumer care models such as virtual visits, digital front doors, and on-demand services? Let us know over on social media, we’d love to hear from all of you!