Why Telemedicine Is Gathering Steam in the U.S.Why Telemedicine Is Gathering Steam in the U.S.

More health providers are recognizing that virtual care can increase patient volumes, assist in care coordination, and more, according to a new survey from KPMG. But there are still significant hurdles. 

Arundhati Parmar

A new survey shows that a quarter of U.S. providers believe that their virtual care programs can be sustained financially, but more importantly they are improving efficiency, patient volumes and loyalty.

The survey was conducted by tax, audit and advisory firm KPMG and involved responses from 120 participants on a telemedicine webinar that the company hosted last month. Participants were from healthcare provider organizations.

Telemedicine, which employs technology to deliver care to patients not physically present at the clinic, has been widely considered one of the ways that healthcare costs can be lowered while improving patient satisfaction.

"Telehealth is rapidly evolving beyond urgent care and is increasingly used for follow up visits and helping chronically ill patients connect with their doctor online," Richard Bakalar, MD, managing director at KPMG and a member of the firm's Global Healthcare Center of Excellence, said in a statement.

"Health plans and government payers are seeing the value from the technology and enhancing reimbursement for virtual care," Bakalar said.

The survey found that there are several factors that are expediting the adoption of telemedicine. Survey responders pointed to the following reasons for choosing virtual care programs:

Yet there is still a significant proportion of U.S. providers lagging behind in terms of adoption. The small survey found that nearly 35% of respondents have not yet started a virtual care program, while another 40% are in early stages. 

So what's keeping them from a full embrace of telemedicine? The survey respondents pointed to the following:

The above challenges notwithstanding, providers need to adopt telemedicine especially as a younger generation of consumers demand healthcare when and where they need it. According to the Pew Research Center, millennials, mostly in their 20s and early 30s, now number more (75.4 million) than Baby Boomers (74.9 million). And this population will account for 41% of overall healthcare spending by 2025, according to another KPMG report on telemedicine. 

Arundhati Parmar is a senior editor at UBM.

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