Houston Methodist launches 24/7 virtual urgent care with 4,500+ visits in first year

Patients increasingly expected on-demand healthcare access similar to consumer technology experiences. Houston Methodist needed to meet this demand by bringing care to patients virtually, reducing non-emergent ED visits (which represented 70% of all ED visits) and improving access for patients with mobility or transportation limitations.

Houston Methodist partnered with American Well as the telemedicine technology platform to launch virtual urgent care. Dedicated providers cover weekday hours while American Well's provider network handles nights and weekends. The service was integrated into the MyMethodist app, enabling access in three to four clicks alongside medical records, MyChart, and other patient tools.

In the first 30 days of the employee pilot, over 300 virtual care visits were completed. By April 2019, more than 4,500 total visits had occurred. Patient satisfaction scored 4.9 out of 5, and approximately 90% of patients accessed the service via mobile device. Houston Methodist became the first Houston health system to offer 24-hour virtual urgent care access.

• Age was not a barrier to adoption; seniors engaged with the telemedicine platform as readily as younger patients, making it particularly valuable for those with mobility or transportation limitations.
• Mobile-first access drove the majority of usage (90%), confirming that app integration is critical to telemedicine adoption.
• Piloting with employees before consumer launch allowed rapid iteration; the consumer rollout followed nine months after the internal pilot.