Technology and Demand Driving Growth of Telehealth Market
October 28, 2016
By Laura Stotler
TMCnet Contributing Editor
Significant advances in video and networking technologies combined with a need for healthcare providers to improve efficiencies and cut costs has given way to an exciting new trend. Telehealth, the use of video to offer adjunct services beyond traditional telemedicine like diagnosing and monitoring, is on the rise and the market is growing and maturing.
ISI Telemanagement Solutions (News - Alert), a company specializing in call accounting and management services for the healthcare industry and beyond, recently discussed this exciting new market and its many benefits. Providing much needed and often overlooked supplementary healthcare services, telehealth uses video services to power educational kiosks, provide home health care, facilitate caregiver collaboration and manage chronic illnesses like diabetes.
Telehealth and telemedicine in general are growing at such a rapid pace that The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) has launched a number of initiatives supporting the practices while both state and federal agencies are offering numerous reimbursements to healthcare providers that use telemedicine. Grand View Research valued the U.S. telehealth market at $572 million in 2014, and expects it to reach $2.83 billion by 2022.
Because video fosters collaboration, improves access to care and promotes increased patient engagement, it may have a direct correlation to patient satisfaction. Some research indicates better engagement, thanks to technologies like telehealth, is driving up Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores. Grand View Research reported that The Community Care Plan for Eastern Carolina more than doubled the number of patients per week it was able to attend to by using a telehealth program.
As video technologies evolve to better meet the demands of telehealth, the market will continue to grow exponentially. Offering major benefits to healthcare providers and patients alike, telehealth is on target to become a routine component of healthcare throughout the world.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi