Are We Saying Goodbye to Office Visits?
by Amanda Sawyer
A May 29, 2020, report by McKinsey & Company Health Care Systems & Services1 found that before COVID-19 in the U.S., telehealth accounted for nearly $3 billion in healthcare costs. Since the pandemic, healthcare professionals are seeing up to 175 times more patients via telehealth, with 46% of patients using this service to replace cancelled in-person office visits. Simultaneously, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) temporarily allowed more than 80 new services to be conducted via telehealth.
The report concluded that telehealth has the potential to become a quarter-trillion-dollar a year market in the post-COVID-19 reality, or about 20% of what Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers spend on outpatient, office and home health visits. It estimated that telehealth could account for:
• 20% of all emergency room visits
• 24% of office visits and outpatient volume
• 35% of home health attendant services
• 2% of all outpatient volume
However, to address physician and consumer concerns, healthcare systems must prepare now with strategies that go beyond telehealth office visit replacement. They must integrate technology that enables secure appointments, workflow integration, reimbursements, patient engagement, preventive health screenings, communication and education. This class of integrated system has the potential to improve convenience, help close care gaps and ensure better outcomes.
Conversely, automating systems does not guarantee meaningful and effective engagement. This requires more than simply sending out information. An effective solution must deliver relevant and actionable communication, allowing healthcare providers and consumers to have meaningful interactions over time. An advanced technology solution like Previon’s PCaaS – Preventive Care as a Service, is designed to meet this explosive need.
Its SaaS enterprise technology seamlessly and securely integrates into existing workflows and allows healthcare organizations to create and deliver customized interactive campaigns, tailored to meet the needs of different patient populations. These campaigns can be monitored and adjusted in real-time to maximize effectiveness while they are still running. Healthcare organizations can provide virtually any type of communication, from nutritional advice and wellness information to reminders about overdue tests, medication adherence and at-home health screenings.
It’s this class of technology that, used in tandem with telehealth, will empower people to make informed healthcare decisions and ultimately close care gaps in the post-COVID-19 reality.
At Previon, our goal is to help healthcare organizations improve screening rates, patient engagement, and health outcomes. Follow this link to learn how to start improving patients’ outcomes from the comfort of their own homes.