Virtual care is no longer a temporary alternative to in-person treatment. Video visits, patient portals, secure messaging, online scheduling, and remote patient monitoring have become established parts of healthcare delivery.
The challenge is no longer simply getting virtual care technology in place. It is getting patients to understand it, trust it, use it, and remain engaged throughout their care journey.
A 2025 survey of more than 150 virtual care professionals found that nearly one in four identified patient engagement as their most difficult challenge. Fifty-five percent said improving engagement was their highest future priority. The same research identified patient awareness, access to technology, and digital literacy as important adoption barriers.
In practical terms, successful virtual care depends on more than the quality of a video platform. It requires a connected patient experience before, during, and after the visit.
What Is Patient Engagement in Virtual Care?
Patient engagement in virtual care is the degree to which patients understand, participate in, and follow through with digitally enabled healthcare.
It can include:
- Scheduling or requesting an appointment online
- Preparing for a video visit
- Completing digital intake forms
- Responding to appointment reminders
- Communicating with the care team
- Using a patient portal
- Participating in remote patient monitoring
- Completing referrals and follow-up appointments
- Following care instructions after a visit
Engagement should not be measured only by whether a patient logs in for an appointment. It should also consider whether the patient completes the next recommended step.
Why Is Patient Engagement Important in Virtual Care?
Patient engagement helps determine whether virtual access turns into completed care.
When patients encounter unclear instructions, unfamiliar messages, complicated logins, disconnected systems, or unreliable technology, they may abandon the process. This can lead to missed appointments, incomplete intake information, delayed referrals, repeated administrative work, and gaps in follow-up care.
Strong engagement strategies can make it easier for patients to:
- Understand what they need to do
- Prepare for an appointment
- Communicate with their care team
- Complete referrals and follow-up visits
- Stay connected between appointments
- Return to care when their needs change
The following seven strategies address common points of friction across the virtual care journey.
1. Close the Patient Awareness Gap
Before patients can engage with virtual care, they need to understand what it is, why it is being offered, and whether it is appropriate for their needs.
In the virtual care survey cited above, more than half of respondents identified limited patient awareness as a major adoption barrier. Limited access to technology and low digital literacy were also frequently reported.
Providers can address these barriers by explaining:
- Why a virtual appointment is appropriate
- What the patient will need
- How to join the visit
- Whether software must be downloaded
- How patient information will be protected
- Who to contact if something goes wrong
- What will happen after the appointment
Instructions should use plain language and avoid unnecessary technical terminology. They should also be available in the patient’s preferred language whenever possible.
The federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion recommends designing digital health information around varying levels of health literacy, technology access, and digital experience. Its guidance emphasizes understandable content, accessible design, and simple navigation.
2. Make the First Virtual Care Experience Easy
A patient’s first virtual encounter can influence whether the patient uses the service again.
Complex registration, multiple passwords, lengthy intake forms, and unclear device requirements create opportunities for patients to drop out before care begins. A better onboarding process gives patients one clear path from invitation to appointment.
Consider providing:
- A short welcome message
- One primary link or call to action
- Mobile-friendly digital intake forms
- Step-by-step connection instructions
- A test link for audio and video
- A phone number for technical help
- A non-video alternative when clinically appropriate
The goal is not to explain every available feature. It is to help the patient complete the next action with as little uncertainty as possible.
3. Communicate Through Familiar, Trusted Channels
A message cannot improve engagement if the patient ignores it.
Consumer research released in 2025 found that patients were more likely to ignore healthcare messages sent from anonymous short codes than messages from recognizable phone numbers. According to the survey, 65% of respondents reported ignoring short-code healthcare messages at least sometimes.
That does not mean healthcare organizations should abandon automation. It means automated communication should still feel credible and recognizable.
Patient messages should clearly identify:
- The healthcare organization
- The purpose of the message
- The action the patient should take
- The deadline, when applicable
- A trusted method for obtaining help
Practices should also be consistent about which numbers, sender names, and communication channels they use. Centralized patient communication and access tools can help healthcare organizations coordinate reminders, scheduling messages, intake requests, and other outreach instead of relying on disconnected systems.
4. Keep Patient Messages Short and Action-Oriented
Patient communication is most useful when it answers three questions:
- Who is contacting me?
- What do I need to do?
- How do I do it?
For example:
ReferralMD Health Clinic: Your virtual appointment is Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. Complete your intake form here: [link]. Call 555-555-5555 if you need help.
Messages should avoid:
- Internal healthcare terminology
- Multiple competing calls to action
- Unexplained abbreviations
- Long paragraphs
- Links without context
- Vague instructions such as “access the portal”
When several steps are required, send them in a logical sequence rather than placing every instruction in one message.
5. Treat Technical Reliability as Part of Patient Care
Engagement strategies cannot compensate for a consistently unreliable virtual experience.
In the 2025 virtual care survey, 90% of professionals said they or their users experienced video-call problems at least occasionally. Federal telehealth guidance also warns that dropped calls and poor connections can create frustration and distrust, particularly among patients who are already hesitant to use virtual care.
Healthcare organizations should therefore treat reliability as a patient-access and clinical-continuity issue, not solely an IT concern.
Important considerations include:
- Performance on mobile devices
- Compatibility with common browsers
- Low-bandwidth options
- Clear audio and video controls
- Simple authentication
- Technical support before the visit
- Backup telephone or asynchronous workflows
- Accessibility for patients with disabilities
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends considering alternatives such as telephone calls, secure portal messages, text messaging, and asynchronous communication when video access is impractical.
6. Design Engagement Around Care Continuity, Not Just Attendance
A completed video appointment is an important milestone, but it is not always the end of the care journey.
A patient may still need to:
- Schedule a specialist appointment
- Complete diagnostic testing
- Submit additional information
- Begin remote patient monitoring
- Fill a prescription
- Review test results
- Attend a follow-up visit
- Return to a primary care provider
The 2026 Teladoc Health Telehealth Benchmark Survey found that healthcare organizations are placing greater emphasis on integrated, patient-centered care across the continuum, chronic-condition management, post-discharge care, and care coordination.
Virtual care should therefore connect with broader referral management workflows rather than operate as an isolated encounter.
A connected workflow can help care teams see whether a patient completed the next step, identify stalled referrals, and initiate appropriate outreach before the patient is lost to follow-up.
7. Measure Actions That Reflect Meaningful Engagement
Healthcare organizations do not need to measure every possible interaction. They should start with a focused group of metrics connected to actual patient behavior.
Useful virtual care engagement metrics include:
- Appointment scheduling completion rate
- Digital intake completion rate
- Message delivery and response rate
- Portal activation rate
- Virtual appointment completion rate
- No-show rate
- Referral scheduling rate
- Referral completion rate
- Follow-up appointment completion rate
- Time from referral or request to scheduled care
- Percentage of patients requiring technical assistance
These metrics should be segmented where possible. For example, a low completion rate may be concentrated among first-time users, older adults, patients with limited English proficiency, or patients using a particular device.
ReferralMD’s patient engagement and self-service tools help healthcare organizations connect patient communication, scheduling, intake, and follow-up activity within a more coordinated workflow.
What Healthcare Providers Can Do Now
Improving virtual patient engagement does not always require replacing the entire technology stack.
Providers can begin by:
- Auditing every message patients receive before and after a virtual appointment
- Making sure patients can recognize the source of outreach
- Simplifying instructions for first-time virtual care patients
- Testing workflows on common mobile devices
- Providing alternatives for patients with limited connectivity
- Identifying where patients most frequently abandon the process
- Connecting virtual appointments with referrals and follow-up workflows
- Tracking a focused set of engagement and completion metrics
- Asking patients what made the process difficult
The most useful question may be: Can the patient clearly understand and complete the next step?
If the answer is no, adding another digital feature is unlikely to solve the underlying problem.
The Future of Virtual Patient Engagement
Virtual care is becoming part of healthcare’s underlying infrastructure. The 2026 Teladoc Health survey found that 93% of participating hospitals and health systems had an established telehealth program. It also found that 89% of respondents considered virtual care equal or superior to corresponding in-person treatment.
The next phase of virtual care will be defined less by the availability of technology and more by how well that technology supports continuity, trust, and coordinated action.
The organizations that benefit most will not necessarily be those with the greatest number of digital features. They will be the ones that make it easy for patients to understand what comes next—and then help them complete it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Patient Engagement in Virtual Care
How can healthcare providers improve patient engagement in virtual care?
Providers can improve virtual care engagement by simplifying onboarding, using trusted communication channels, sending clear reminders, improving technical reliability, offering accessible alternatives, coordinating follow-up care, and measuring whether patients complete recommended actions.
What are the main barriers to virtual patient engagement?
Common barriers include limited awareness, low digital confidence, unreliable internet access, unfamiliar messages, complex login processes, accessibility limitations, privacy concerns, and disconnected follow-up workflows.
What patient engagement metrics should telehealth programs track?
Useful metrics include appointment completion, intake-form completion, message response, portal activation, no-show rates, referral completion, follow-up completion, time to scheduled care, and requests for technical assistance.
Why is care continuity important in virtual care?
Virtual visits often lead to additional actions such as testing, referrals, monitoring, or follow-up appointments. Coordinating these steps helps prevent patients from becoming lost between encounters and makes virtual access more likely to result in completed care.
Can automated communication improve patient engagement?
Yes. Automated reminders and follow-up messages can improve engagement when they are timely, easy to understand, clearly identify the sender, and give the patient one specific action to complete. Automation should support a trusted patient relationship rather than make communication feel anonymous.
About the Author
Edidiong James is a health content writer and medical virtual assistant with clinical training across six nursing rotations, including intensive care, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and dermatology. Her background includes undergraduate research on telenursing. She writes about virtual care, patient engagement, and healthcare technology for providers and medical practices.
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