[eMarketer] How telehealth is shaping modern medicine

A new survey by The Bipartisan Policy Center and Social Science Research Solutions show that 14% of telehealth users in USA would have gone to the emergency department (ED) or an urgent care facility if telehealth wasn’t an option. The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,776 US adults between June 28 and July 18, 2021.

Telehealth is a valuable tool for triaging low-acuity care and avoiding unnecessary emergency department visits—which are a huge financial strain for hospitals:

eMarketer posits that the US spends nearly $76.3 billion annually on ED visits alone.

Telehealth gave millions of US adults access to care services in 2020.

One-third of US adults surveyed had a telehealth visit for themselves or a dependent in 2020.

About 44% of Medicare beneficiaries used telehealth, while only 31% of adults on employer-sponsored plans opted for virtual care.

With the Delta variant pushing COVID-19 cases back up, clearing up capacities in emergency departments is more valuable than ever.

We saw the dire consequences that soaring COVID-19-related hospitalization rates and limited clinical staff had on breaching hospital capacities across the US, to a point where cities had to scramble to find space to erect beds. Plus, this has had an outside financial burden on hospitals and health systems.

Read the full eMarketer article here

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