The Telehealth Market Reluctance Remains

By Newelle Nielsen

According to Zion Market Research, an estimated $47 billion will have been invested into the telehealth market by the year 2021 by companies such as AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc., MiX Telematics Ltd., and many more. In other words, there will be an abundance of money for telehealth solutions for practices and patients.

So why then does both patient and provider usage remain so low?

While all projections lead to considerable growth in the telehealth market, physicians appear reluctant to implement virtual care into their practices. Currently, medical practices are losing patients at steep rates to both on-demand telemedicine services and urgent care clinics. One reason for this is that doctors have concerns about their ability to provide the same quality of care as they would for an office visit. Many patients also share this concern as they are anxious about being diagnosed correctly.

Changes in regulation on the federal and state level in California are removing barriers that made it difficult for doctors to get reimbursed. Telemedicine brings in incremental revenue from lowering overhead costs and keeping patients out of the office that don’t need a physical exam.

The market demand for telemedicine exists as much as 75 percent of patients are willing to try telemedicine services according to the Virtual Visits Consumers Choice Survey. However, only 20 percent ever actually experienced using telemedicine while interacting with their physician.

Ninety percent of large employers reported planning to offer telemedicine services by the end of 2017. Adopting telemedicine doesn’t have to be a hassle. The simple steps in this presentation will help you to implement video visits into your practice and train your staff in no time.

Newelle Nielsen is lead healthcare analyst, BI Quality Analytics.