I ran across a fun article – 29 Statistics You Need To Know About Healthcare & Telemedicine. It comes from a telehealth provider – I want to recognize that – but I thought at least some of the 29 statistics were worth sharing…
- Right-Sizing Care: Over the next decade, the aging American population is expected to place increased demands on the U.S. healthcare system. For older Americans, a review of medical records, found that 38% of doctor visits, including 27% of Emergency Room (E.R.) visits could have been replaced with telemedicine.
- Potential Annual Employer Savings: In a 2014 study, Towers Watson concluded that telehealth had the potential to generate $6 billion in annual healthcare cost savings for US. employers.
- High Patient Satisfaction: A 2016 survey funded by the NIH (which analyzed responses from 3,000 patients treated at via telehealth a CVS Minute Clinic) concluded that between 94 percent and 99 percent were “very satisfied” with telehealth, while one-third of respondents preferred the telehealth experience to an in-office doctor visit.
- Equivalent Quality of Care: According to the American Telemedicine Association, “Studies have consistently shown that the quality of healthcare services delivered via telemedicine are as good those given in traditional in-person consultations.”
- Average Consult Wait Time: The average wait time for a call-back for First Stop Health virtual consultation is less than five minutes.
- Health Care Savings and ROI: With an average usage rate of 50%, First Stop Health saves a typical employer, with 1000 employees, $95,388 by redirecting care to appropriate lower-cost alternatives; which yields an average ROI of 60%. These savings do not include any estimates for the value of avoided follow-up visits, increased employee productivity, reduced claims experience or intangible employee benefits, like improved health through earlier treatments and reduced stress.