Americans are welcoming telemedicine benefits from their employers as a crucial option for continued quality healthcare. Today, many employees see telemedicine as a vital component to maintaining their health, and in turn, being a happy, product employee. 

Healthcare has experienced a shift, and telehealth is now being relied on for essential care. While traditional telemedicine has provided some access, it is not a perfect virtual care model and creating healthy communities not determined by digital access, cost, and distance has remained a guiding priority and core value of American Public Health Association. To create on-demand, cost-effective healthcare, current virtual care providers must consider the strain virtual-only care models place on healthcare budgets, patients, employers, and the overall healthcare system.

Amazon announced that a telemedicine service – named Amazon Care – had been piloted for the past eighteen months with its Washington employees.

During the last year, most Americans needed a healthcare visit, and due to the pandemic, most had at least one virtual doctor visit.

Over the past 30 years that telehealth has been developed and in use, it has consistently proved to be a high-quality approach to healthcare. It is the most convenient use of time available to both patients and doctors, and with new, secure technologies, it is also one of the best ways to have personal health information securely collected and communicated. 

Telemedicine has become one of the most versatile ways a patient can engage in healthcare services. 

Many people wake up to a sore throat and immediately start brainstorming the source of their discomfort. Is it allergies, a cold, the flu, strep throat – what if it is COVID-19?

Just like every other industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare pivoted to virtual care – away from brick-and-mortar facilities for the safety of their patients. While this movement toward virtual healthcare was born out of necessity, it also became the catalyst for both doctor and patient to experience the high level of care that could come through telemedicine.

Only 10% of new patients were able to see a doctor on the same day as they called to make an appointment, according to a study by Athena Health. Another 20% of patients waited more than four weeks to see a primary care physician for a first appointment. Wait time becomes even longer if a patient is trying to get in to see a specialist. 

Telemedicine was already on the rise before March 2020, when the American healthcare system technologically expanded at exponential rates in order to serve patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.