More hybrid virtual care and asynchronous telemedicine on the way for 2024
Now that telemedicine is a mainstream method of healthcare delivery, C-suite executives and healthcare IT leaders at healthcare organizations must keep a close eye on virtual care trends. Telemedicine is too important today to take for granted.
To get a taste of what this new year has in store for telehealth, Healthcare IT News spoke with Jon Salon, president of MDLive, an Evernorth Company, a provider of virtual healthcare services. We discussed further adoption, the hybrid care model, chronic care management, healthy workplace clinics, and asynchronous telemedicine.
Q. What is one of the top telemedicine predictions for 2024?
A. We can expect tremendous growth and adoption of virtual primary care and hybrid care models in 2024.
Access to primary care is critical to improving patient outcomes and preventing costly complications that result from patients delaying or avoiding care. With the growing provider supply shortage and increasing demand for primary care, wait times for office visits can stretch weeks or months in many parts of the country. Additionally, virtual care can eliminate other barriers patients face when seeking routine and preventive care services, such as lack of time, lost work hours, and transportation.
MDLive is experiencing significant growth in virtual primary care. The number of virtual primary care visits has more than doubled in the past year. I predict that we will continue to see exponential growth in patient adoption and digital, virtually guided plan design as virtual providers continue to develop their capabilities to meet patients' longitudinal needs, including seamlessly connecting them to physical care locations when that is necessary. And there's more data and insights showing how virtual primary care improves health and value.
Q: You suggest that there will be interesting developments in 2024, with technology integrations coming to the forefront of chronic care management. Please provide some more information.
A. The patient's relationship with his/her primary care provider and the ability to stay connected with his/her care team are especially important for people with chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. Virtual caregivers continue to make strides in using technology to keep patients with chronic conditions engaged between doctor visits and help them better manage their conditions on a daily basis.
Many studies have shown the value of using digital tools to support chronic care patients with their care plan, medication regimen, and adherence to healthy behaviors such as weight management, diet, and exercise.
We recently expanded MDLive's virtual primary care to include digital health coaching for patients with chronic conditions starting with hypertension. This is already proving to be a valuable tool for our healthcare providers and patients: within a few months of launch, more than 80% of these patients have been prescribed digital health coaching in their care plans.
Q. What is another key telehealth prediction you have for 2024?
A. As employers continue to roll out plans to bring employees back to the office at least some of the time, they are looking for ways to provide more support for employees' physical, mental and emotional health – both in person at the office and through digital tools and virtual care .
The office health services we expect to see include workplace health clinics, behavioral and occupational health services, and health coaches, but with a hybrid component to keep employees engaged virtually and maintaining healthy lifestyles.
This is an advanced evolution of workplace wellness programs that should deliver better engagement and health outcomes.
Q. You also point to a growing trend of asynchronous telemedicine care in 2024. Please discuss this.
A. Asynchronous care is another way to address the provider shortage we are experiencing in the US. It also helps to further remove common barriers to patients getting care when they need it.
Asynchronous care offers providers a way to effectively assess and more efficiently treat hundreds of common low-acuity conditions, eliminating as much as 90% of providers' administrative work. It can free up providers to spend more meaningful time with the patients who need it, while providing a lower-cost care option for urgent and other basic healthcare needs.
A proven benefit of Virtual care is that it helps achieve better outcomes by breaking down access, convenience, and other common barriers that often lead patients to delay care. Asynchronous care offers consumers an easier and even more convenient option by allowing them to quickly access care without having to connect live to a provider. We can expect adoption to increase as consumer access to asynchronous care options increases, especially among younger consumers who prefer asynchronous interactions over live conversations to manage many aspects of their lives.
Earlier this year, Evernorth announced the acquisition of the technology platform of Bright.md, a company in the asynchronous care space. MDLive looks forward to rolling out an asynchronous care option in 2024 for patients seeking care for a wide range of common low-acuity conditions through our on-demand, urgent care offering.
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