Parks Points

Anyone who has ever worked a full time job or has had a full slate of life’s responsibilities understands how challenging it can be to visit a medical office. Therefore, it is not surprising to observe that 58% of U.S. broadband households are interested in remotely interacting with medical professionals for at least one of the specified circumstances tested.

Consumers are most interested in seeing a doctor at home for follow-up care related to acute or chronic conditions. Patients dealing with post-hospitalization or chronic disease issues may have difficulty traveling to doctors’ appointments, but there is substantial appeal for on-demand virtual care for more routine types of medical visits.

Due to increasing consumer demand for care options outside of a hospital or traditional medical office, care providers are beginning to embrace on-demand virtual care. The industry faces some significant challenges, but opportunities are also emerging. For instance, services delivered through telephone and live video call face less scrutiny and reimbursement challenges from payers. However, asynchronous communications, such as secure messaging and emails remain non-reimbursable. Virtual care solutions vendors instead offer value in other forms, including improving the patient experience, reducing physician workloads, or improvement to care programs.

While a shift towards a greater emphasis on remote care is emerging, consumer experiences with remote care have left elements to be desired. The consumer experience with remote care must improve if this form of healthcare is to grow in the future.

Parks Associates will discuss trends for the connected healthcare market at the 4th-annual Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, August 29-31, in San Diego. To learn more about virtual healthcare, see 360 View Update: On-Demand Care: The Patient Wants to See You Now.