The telehealth industry has been growing very quickly throughout the pandemic. This is due to the necessity of people needing access to healthcare when many providers had to close their doors.
The Reasons for the Exponential Growth
1) increased consumer willingness to use telehealth
2) increased provider willingness to use telehealth
3) regulatory changes enabling greater access and reimbursement (Bestsennyy et al., 2021).
The use of Telehealth has grown 38 times since before Covid-19. It had a peak in April 2020 with it being used 78 times more often than in person appointments (Bestsennyy et al., 2021). This industry will not be slowing down after Covid-19. The necessity of telehealth during the pandemic has given the whole industry a push to join the 21st century (Orr, 2021).
“According to CB Insights (via Fierce Healthcare), telehealth investment reached a peak at $4.2 billion in 139 deals for the first quarter of 2021, which is almost double of what it was last year, at the same time.” (Orr, 2021).
Doctors used platforms like Zoom and other health specific software to communicate with their patients. These platforms are not medical devices (Orr, 2021). Other platforms incorporate other advanced technologies like virtual and augmented reality which helps patients with various anxiety disorders. Many other virtual medical devices are being brought to the healthcare market.
Porton Health is developing the new MeetApp which can be used to meet doctors for checkups and diagnosis. We update our products frequently to provide the best service for our clients and their patients. Patients can use our secure video conferencing software that requires only an Internet-connected computer and a webcam. Our knowledgeable support team is available to answer any questions or concerns. To learn more about how to implement telehealth or how Porton Health’s virtual care system works, email as at connect@portonhealth.com.
References
Bestsennyy, O., Gilbert, G., Harris, A., & Rost, J. (2021, July 14). Telehealth: A quarter-trillion-dollar post-COVID-19 reality? McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/telehealth-a-quarter-trillion-dollar-post-covid-19-reality.
Orr, E. (2021, July 13). Council Post: Doctors And Human Resources Investing In Telehealth. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/07/13/doctors-and-human-resources-investing-in-telehealth/?sh=7876980d2352.