It may be faster and more convenient, but those aren’t sufficient reasons for most consumers to use telehealth.
According to a recent report backed by telehealth provider Avizia, providers will have to get their acts together if they’re going to woo more consumers to dip their toes into the waters of telehealth. Not only do people not understand it well, they’re more comfortable with an actual medical professional than they are with an electronic “visit.”
When you add to the equation the fact that most respondents aren’t sure whether their insurance covers a telehealth visit, it’s obvious that a lot more work has to be done before consumers adopt the technology at more than a snail’s pace.
Close to half of respondents say they’re more comfortable with a human being than a computerized visit, while two thirds are concerned about insurance coverage for the privilege of not seeing the doctor in person. And 10 percent say they’ve never heard of it.
The minority of respondents who do use it like it for its convenience and speed, but the report also highlights the role ignorance plays in consumers’ distrust or avoidance of the system. The report’s authors write, “Hospitals and healthcare delivery systems have high adoption rates of telehealth. Patients, however, don’t generally know how to join the telehealth party. It’s not that they aren’t invited or don’t want to go—it’s that they don’t understand how to access telehealth or how it could be applied to their own care. … They don’t know how telehealth would affect their copays and deductibles and having never used it before, they are unsure when and how they should use it.”
Considering that 58 percent of respondents say they never had an opportunity to use telehealth, and the report’s authors also point out that many consumers aren’t even sure that their providers offer it, there’s a lot of work to be done.
Providers like it for its potential to expand the reach of care, with 70 percent citing that as a reason to provide it; in addition, 55 percent cite better outcomes; 44 percent, reduced costs; and 36 percent, consumer demand.
But to get to broader adoption and those better outcomes, not just patients but also physicians and insurers will have to buy in.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
