Virtual health tools could cut $10 billion off the cost of primary care in the U.S., claims a report from Accenture, a major tech consulting firm.  

In particular, the study targets what it calls the "clinician demand/capacity equation." Many of the time-consuming duties commonly performed by doctors, such as gathering patient data, could be done more quickly with simple tech tools, freeing up physicians to deal with more important patient issues.  

The concept of saving time and money by using virtual health –– or "telemedicine" or "telehealth" –– is not new. A report in 2013 by the Healthcare Performance Management Institute found that 70 percent of physician visits and 40 percent of hospital ER visits could be replaced by phone calls.