Consumer Demand

• According to a survey conducted by Vivify Health, 83% of consumers in the US are interested in receiving virtual care, however, only 17% are actually utilizing it. The survey was conducted among millennials (25-34 years), Generation X (35-44 years), and baby boomers (older than 54 years) and shows that this desire appears to be present across all generations.
• According to another survey by Deloitte, 24% of those surveyed have utilized virtual care and 57% of those who have not utilized virtual care say that they are interested in it.
• Another, less recent, survey conducted by American Well shows that roughly 66% of consumers would prefer to see their doctor over video and 20% of healthcare consumers would switch providers if they had access to virtual visits. A 2019 survey from the same source shows that 66% of consumers are interested in telehealth.

Industry Barriers

• There are regulatory and industry barriers that have hindered access to virtual care.
• A significant barrier is how physicians will be reimbursed for providing remote care. This appears to be changing as from January 2020 "Medicare Advantage plans will be empowered and financially incentivized to expand their use of telehealth, including remote patient monitoring." The plans will be more flexible and offer "new forms of telehealth as part of additional telehealth benefits not previously available in Medicare Advantage."
• The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is the largest healthcare payer and covers approximately 90 million Americans through its programs.
• According to the Wall Street Journal, consumer interest in telehealth virtual care is greater than physician adoption of the practice. According to a survey by Deloitte, 14% of doctors surveyed offer virtual visits and only 18% of the doctors who provide no virtual care intend to offer it within the next couple of years.
• Consumers who are not interested in virtual care fear that there will be loss of personal connection with their physician (28%), have quality concerns (28%) or have issues with access (24%).
• Physicians are concerned with technology, specifically medical errors (36%), access to technology (35%), and data security (33%).

Summary of Findings

• During the initial hour of research, we focused on finding information on the consumer demand for telehealth virtual care.
• Information was found on the demand from three different surveys. The information shows that the demand is far greater than the supply, therefore, additional information was included on what the barriers are that limit the supply (threats to the industry).