DiMe Launches Initiative to Smooth Virtual-First Care Contracts

The Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) has launched a new initiative aimed at helping payers and virtual care providers work through the contract implementation challenges that often derail virtual-first care arrangements, according to MedCity News.

The focus is practical. Deals between health plans and virtual care companies get signed, then run into friction over how care is delivered, how data is shared, and how payment actually flows. Those misalignments can slow or sink programs even when both sides want them to succeed. DiMe's effort is designed to give the two parties a common framework so they can avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Virtual-first care, where a patient's initial point of contact is digital rather than an in-person visit, has matured past the pandemic surge into a model both payers and employers are trying to scale. Standardizing how contracts move from paper to practice could make these arrangements more durable and easier to replicate across the industry.