David Newman, MD: Advancing Virtual Care and Digital Healthcare at Sanford Health
Introduction
Healthcare is no longer strictly about what occurs in a clinic or hospital. Patients can now video conference, send electronic messages and make use of other methods of virtual interaction. For those who live in rural and remote locations, such services can be particularly beneficial. David Newman, MD, holds the position of Chief Medical Officer, Virtual Care at Sanford Health. According to the organization’s physician profile, Newman practices endocrinology in Fargo, North Dakota and also serves as the Chief Medical Officer, Virtual Care. The organization has also published material about Newman’s contributions to discussions regarding artificial intelligence, clinical workflow and the patient and clinician experience.
Newman’s post occupies an important junction considering the need to both embrace digital healthcare and consider the implications for clinical quality, patient safety, provider workflows, access, communication and other factors. Virtual care can impact a wide range of healthcare activities, from diagnostic imaging to therapy management, from patient education and empowerment. Sanford Health has prioritized virtual care, both as a component of broader strategic initiatives and as a way to meet the needs of rural and other populations. In 2021, the organization announced a $350 million investment in a Virtual Care Initiative and stated that it would play a role in better serving rural and underserved populations.
David Newman, MD and the Role of Virtual Care Leadership
The title Chief Medical Officer, Virtual Care reflects an increasingly important type of healthcare leadership.
A virtual-care medical leader needs to consider how clinical standards translate into technology-enabled environments. A video appointment, for example, may look different from an office visit, but the underlying clinical responsibilities remain. Providers still need appropriate information, patients still need clear communication, and care decisions still need to be made within the limits of the available clinical information.
The exact responsibilities of any Chief Medical Officer for Virtual Care vary by organization. Generally, the role can connect clinical leadership with the design, implementation and evaluation of digitally enabled care services.
| Area | Role in Virtual Care |
|---|---|
| Clinical Leadership | Helps keep virtual services aligned with appropriate clinical standards and patient-safety principles. |
| Patient Access | Supports additional ways for patients to connect with healthcare professionals without always traveling to a facility. |
| Technology | Connects clinical needs with digital platforms, tools and workflows. |
| Care Coordination | Helps virtual encounters work alongside primary, specialty, hospital and in-person care. |
At Sanford Health, the scale of the virtual-care program makes this connection particularly relevant. Sanford describes its virtual services as a way to connect patients with providers and specialists wherever they are, including through satellite clinics and other care settings.
Understanding Virtual Care
Virtual Care is more than just a video call. Telehealth is just one piece of the puzzle, but electronically enabled care can also include e-visits, messaging, remote patient monitoring, virtual behavioral health and technology-assisted specialty care.
Sanford Health now offers a variety of consumer facing services, including e-visits, on-demand video visits and virtual behavioral health. Its e-visit service allows patients to complete a web-based questionnaire that is reviewed by a provider, while video visits connect patients to providers through an internet enabled device.
For providers, Sanford Health also has virtual consultations, emergency and trauma support, hospital medicine, pharmacy services, long-term-care services and student health. This serves as a good reminder: Virtual care is not just a single technology or modality, but rather an evolving ecosystem of solutions that can support and extend traditional care.
Sanford Health and the Growth of Digital Healthcare
Sanford Health’s digital healthcare practice is closely linked to its rural-health mission. The organization has a Virtual Care Initiative, set up to serve and engage patients in rural and underserved areas. Sanford Virtual Care Center offers access to satellite clinics, while the Innovation Center conducts research and development of new healthcare technologies.
Sanford emphasizes the use of simulation, education and patient-experience spaces within the Virtual Care Center. Such facilities aim to provide clinicians and teams with the opportunity to practice scenarios, explore technology and develop competencies in digitally enabled care. The organization’s virtual-care program has continued to grow. In February 2026, Sanford reported that patients had saved around $41 million in travel expenses during 2025 through virtual care, and the program has reduced more than 60.5 million miles of travel over time. These numbers were reported by the Sanford Health itself, and must be viewed as organizationally reported program results, rather than an independent evaluation.
For patients, the practical value could be simple: reduced unnecessary trips, additional ways to communicate with clinicians and the ability to receive certain services without visiting a hospital or clinic.
Why Clinical Leadership Matters in Virtual Care
Technology can make a healthcare interaction possible, but it does not determine whether that interaction is clinically appropriate.
This is where physician leadership becomes important. Sanford Health virtual care leadership requires attention to the relationship between digital tools and actual patient care.
Clinical leaders can help organizations think through questions such as:
- Is a condition appropriate for virtual assessment?
- What information does the clinician need before making a decision?
- When should a virtual encounter lead to an in-person examination?
- How should providers document and coordinate the encounter?
- Does the technology fit naturally into the clinician’s workflow?
- Can patients understand what to do after the appointment?
These questions are especially important as organizations expand healthcare virtual care innovation beyond basic video consultations.
A digital service should not be judged only by whether it works technically. It also needs to work clinically and practically.
Virtual Care and Healthcare Access
One of the most obvious arguments in favor of virtual care is accessibility. Travel time for patients physically distant from specialty centers would be reduced, time and money spent on transportation could be saved, time away from work or other responsibilities could be avoided, and so on. Sanford Health itself cites virtual care as a method of bringing providers and specialists to the patients, including through local and satellite care facilities.
This is of particular interest in rural contexts, but virtual care is not available for all cases, as some require examination, testing, procedures or interventions which cannot be administered through online or video services. Sanford specifically recommends against the use of its program for chest pains, stroke symptoms and large amounts of bleeding, among others, and advises those experiencing such conditions to call 911 or go directly to an emergency room.
Some patients may be inconvenienced by the requirement to have the proper devices and connection in order to be able to use virtual care programs. Many people may be uncomfortable communicating through technology and prefer direct, in-person conversation. The objective is not to replace personal medicine, but to provide additional options.
The Patient Experience in Virtual Healthcare
Convenience is often the most obvious benefit of virtual healthcare. By having an option to receive care at home patients save time on the travel to the point of service. Sanford’s current virtual care services include on-demand video visits, e-visits and virtual behavioral health appointments offering their patients a variety of options. The virtual care visit experience encompasses more than the appointment itself.
Scheduling, digital check-in, messaging, prescriptions, follow-up instructions and access to medical information can each influence the patients overall experience with a healthcare provider. With this in mind it is important to think of Virtual Care patient experience as a journey not just a video visit.
A positive digital healthcare experience should lead the patient to the next needed step. If laboratory testing, an in-person examination or follow-up with a specialist is needed, the virtual encounter should transition into that care pathway as well.
Technology and the Future of Virtual Care
The future of virtual healthcare is likely to involve several technologies working together rather than a single platform defining the model.
| Virtual Care Component | Potential Patient Benefit | Key Consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Telehealth | Convenient access to eligible clinical services | Not every condition can be assessed remotely. |
| Remote Monitoring | Allows selected health information to be collected outside traditional visits | Data must be clinically useful and appropriately reviewed. |
| Digital Communication | Supports messaging, follow-up and information exchange | Privacy, clarity and response expectations matter. |
| Hybrid Care | Combines virtual and in-person encounters | Care pathways need clear coordination between settings. |
Remote monitoring can potentially bring information from a patient’s home into the clinical environment. Electronic health records can provide continuity across encounters. Digital patient tools can support scheduling and communication.
Artificial intelligence is another area receiving significant attention. Sanford Health has publicly discussed AI in relation to clinical workflows and the patient and clinician experience, including through a 2025 leadership panel featuring David Newman.
That does not mean AI should automatically be introduced into every virtual-care process. Its usefulness depends on the clinical problem, data quality, workflow, governance and appropriate human oversight.
For technology in modern healthcare, the important question is increasingly not whether a technology is new, but whether it solves a meaningful clinical or operational problem.
Challenges in Scaling Virtual Care
Expanding virtual healthcare also brings challenges that cannot be solved by purchasing new technology.
| Challenge | Why It Matters | Possible Consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Access | Patients may lack reliable internet, devices or digital confidence. | Provide alternative access routes and user support. |
| Privacy | Health information requires appropriate protection. | Use secure systems and clear privacy practices. |
| Clinical Suitability | Some conditions require physical examination or testing. | Establish clear escalation and referral pathways. |
| Technology Integration | Fragmented systems can create extra work for clinicians. | Integrate tools with established clinical workflows where possible. |
Provider adoption is another important consideration. A digital platform may be technically capable, but if it creates excessive administrative work or interrupts clinical workflows, adoption can be difficult.
Regulatory requirements, reimbursement rules and licensing can also affect how virtual services are delivered across locations.
Patient trust is equally important. People need confidence that their information is handled responsibly and that virtual care will not compromise the quality of their treatment.
These considerations show why the Chief Medical Officer virtual care role is broader than technology oversight. It sits within a larger system of clinical governance, patient experience and organizational change.
What David Newman’s Role Represents
The role of David Newman, MD, within Sanford Health, serves as an example of the paradigm shift in the approach to healthcare delivery. The traditional setup is where the healthcare facility is the anchor point of the patient’s journey. Virtual healthcare creates the opportunity for the continuum of care, with elements both outside and inside the facility.
Sanford’s virtual strategy is indicative of this trend, as its services include options for consumers, such as video visits, consultations with specialist, and tools for virtual health communities and telepresence for clinical staff. In Dr. Newman’s public profile, he discusses his career in endocrinology and academia, and Sanford has also been recognized within his scope of work, mentioning Dr. Newman in the context of the executive team’s work on AI and healthcare delivery.
Virtual healthcare solutions are no longer considered a separate niche, but rather an integral part of the system. This requires organizations to take a closer look at their offerings in terms of accessibility, quality, cost, workforce, technology, consumer and interdisciplinary considerations.
The Changing Role of Digital Healthcare
The future of virtual healthcare will likely depend as much on thoughtful clinical design as on technological development.
Telehealth platforms, remote monitoring, electronic records, artificial intelligence and digital engagement tools can expand the ways healthcare is delivered. But these technologies are most useful when they support clear clinical goals.
Sanford Health’s experience also illustrates why rural healthcare provides an important environment for virtual-care development. When distance creates a barrier, digital connections can provide another route to specialists and other healthcare resources.
At the same time, the limitations remain real. Some patients need physical examinations. Some technologies create new privacy or workflow concerns. And not every patient has the same level of digital access.
The most practical model may therefore be a flexible one: virtual when appropriate, in person when necessary, and coordinated across both.
Conclusion
David Newman, MD, as chief medical officer, Virtual Care at Sanford Health, represents a type of clinical leadership that has become increasingly relevant as healthcare systems grow their digitally enabled services. Sanford Health’s virtual-care program is a good example of how technology can be linked to a broader healthcare strategy, particularly around rural access, specialist connectivity and alternative methods of receiving care.
The greater lesson is that virtual care is not just about throwing a medical appointment on a screen. It’s about designing care around clinical appropriateness, patient needs, provider workflows and continuity. As digital transformation of healthcare continues, clinical leadership will continue to be important. Technology can create new possibilities, but physicians and health care teams will have to decide how those possibilities should be used. That balance will remain central to the development of virtual care and the next generation of digitally-enabled healthcare delivery.
Read More: Business Legacy
