Given healthcare providers’ growing focus on digital-first care, it seems everyone is seeing a doctor virtually in 2022 amid a global pandemic. But new research suggests it’s still the exception, not the rule.
Nearly two years after the pandemic, just under 26 percent of Americans have used telehealth, according to Trilliant Health’s 2022 Telehealth Trends Report Posted last week. This even uses a broad definition of telemedicine, which includes audio-only visits. The report analyzes how Americans used telehealth from March 1, 2020 to November 30, 2021, based on payer and consumer data.
Compared to using telehealth, nearly 80% of patients received only in-person care in 2021, compared to about 70% in 2020.
Lagging demand and declining adoption of telehealth by physicians and patients runs counter to increased supply — as options for virtual care are increasing.
The report found that an overwhelming majority still prefer in-person care if given the choice. It makes the total target market for telehealth less than 1% of the health economy.
“Considering Covid’s ‘forced adoption’ of telehealth, when we exclude patients who have no choice but to use the technology (mainly for Covid-19 testing reasons), the most conservative view of the future telehealth market is Estimated to be less than 10 million consumers,” Sanjula Jain, chief research officer and senior vice president of market strategy at Trilliant Health, said in an email provided by a representative.
The report is in stark departure from many other reports that have highlighted the promise of virtual care. Why?
Jain argues in the report that most of the conclusions of other reports “are based on small sample surveys, analyses of limited population segments (eg, Medicare beneficiaries, single health plans), and mixed methods of calculation that do not account for mid-pandemic changes. Remotely Medical definitions and reimbursement criteria.”
The report builds on Trilliant’s initial analysis of telehealth utilization 2021 Report on Trends Shaping the Healthy Economy, and explains the ongoing changes attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. It added an additional eight months of pandemic-era claims data from March 2021 to November 2021, rather than trends from the early months of the pandemic.
2020 and 2021. The report’s 20-month view includes data from 56 million telehealth patients from Trilliant’s fully paid claims database.
The report’s findings should raise questions for most providers of telehealth solutions, or in a race to offer them, about what can be done to make them more attractive to patients and increase demand.
Understanding the Telehealth Client Base
According to Jain, there is a misconception that most people are interested in telehealth, and market analysis finds that the industry hype misses the point.
“Companies need to think first about which types of consumers are targeted ‘customers’ for telehealth. This may seem obvious, but to date much of the industry conversation has been based on the assumption that most people like telehealth and/or want to use it It,” Jain explained. “Like any other item a consumer buys, the target ‘buyer’ has a clear market and profile.”
With telehealth, there is one group whose use has increased and has remained the same since the pandemic began: women between the ages of 21 and 40. Further research, The most consistent “power users” (25+ visits) are women in this age group who ““Digital natives” primarily use virtual care for behavioral health, the report said.
“Our data analysis shows that not only do women make up 60 percent of all telehealth patients, but they are consistently the highest users,” Jain said. Also, power users tend to be wealthier. Knowing the “target” population and the most common application – in this case mental health – could allow companies to better identify if and where someone is In markets that fit similar characteristics, she said.
Addressing lagging needs
While virtual care remains an option for care, the initial peak of telehealth use has tapered off in 2020 after Covid-19 locked down many aspects of society. According to a Trillium report, nearly half or 46 percent of telehealth patients used it only once during the study period.
According to Trillium’s findings, the hype surrounding telehealth’s dramatic rise is real and relative. The pandemic certainly accelerated adoption, but the number of telehealth users was low to begin with. Excluding out-of-pocket and traditional Medicare patients, approximately 38 million Americans received telehealth services in 2020. By 2021, that number drops to about 30 million, or about one-tenth of the current U.S. population of more than 330 million.
For providers trying to reach more patients virtually, Jain recommends moving away from the notion of a universal need for telehealth.
According to the report’s findings, “payment parity,” where telehealth coverage is now comparable to reimbursement for in-person care, has also not proven sufficient to significantly change patient preferences for in-person care. Achieving continued adoption of telehealth will require the availability of telehealth services that not only provide the same level of reimbursement for providers, but are also favored by patients, Jain said.
A prime example of these integrations is behavioral health. In addition to more limited treatment options, patients seem to like to maintain a “distance” from their providers regarding these types of visits, she noted. “This reality is exacerbated by the fact that we are facing a national behavioral health crisis, which presents an opportunity for telehealth providers,” she said. Namely, this involves catering to people who currently use telehealth for their behavioral health and do not have access to in-person mental health services.
Focus on existing telehealth users
Of course, even with the hype surrounding telehealth, providers are noticing demand constraints. For those trying to enter or grow in a market, this means considering their specific customer base and reach.
“For example, new retail entrants (e.g. Walmart, Amazon) have greater scale advantages and mature membership (loyalty) bases compared to other providers,” Jain said.
Jain noted that established telehealth providers like Teladoc are more focused on increasing spending for existing customers rather than increasing the number of users. “As a result, in the absence of meaningful growth at the consumer (or patient) level, employer benefit programs present the most compelling growth opportunity for telehealth providers,” she said.
Image credit: Bohdan Skrypnyk, Getty Images
