A new decade for telehealth
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption of telehealth shifted into hyperdrive. Providers saw telehealth take hold at an unprecedented pace — one that otherwise would have likely taken years.
Since the pandemic began, analysts have been rapidly revising their predictions for telehealth upward. Forrester analysts anticipated more than 1 billion virtual care visits in 2020. While 900 million would be related to COVID-19, Forrester estimated that there would be as many as 200 million virtual visits related to general care and 80 million visits related to mental health needs. A reforecasting of the telehealth market by Frost & Sullivan in April 2020 also indicated a considerable spike in usage in 2020. The pre-COVID-19 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was 28 percent for 2019-2025. That projection was revised to 38 percent. The most dramatic change in the projection being the year-over-year growth that is expected to occur in 2020 with a U.S. growth rate of 64 percent. Additionally, remote patient monitoring (RPM) is forecast to grow by 150 percent in 2020, while virtual visits are forecast to grow by 124 percent in 2020.
Providers continue to report huge spikes in telemedicine visits. One reported an increase of 1,409 percent inpatient registrations from February to April. A second virtual healthcare company reported seeing as many as 15,000 virtual care visits requested per day.
Even after the COVID-19 crisis passes, telehealth is expected to continue to expand. It's anticipated that in 2021 and beyond, progressive health systems will start to view telehealth as a standard of care option for primary care virtual consultation. Frost & Sullivan believes in the next five years telehealth will have full regulatory approval and clinician support. Forrester predicts that healthcare organizations (HCOs) that don't deliver virtual care will face customer attrition.
This white paper looks at what's driving the increased telehealth adoption beyond COVID-19 as well as what opportunities there are within the healthcare system for providers to use telehealth. We will also explore what the IT infrastructure requirements are to ensure HCOs can support current goals and the future growth of telehealth services.