It was already the trend before 2020, but with COVID-19 came a whole new level of consumers using the convenience of technology to bring their lifestyle to them. Instead of traveling out, groceries are delivered to your front door, movies can be streamed through your phone, you can attend team meetings from the comfort of your kitchen table, and now you can also experience doctor’s visits through the more than 80 new telemedicine services approved by the federal government.

Telemedicine is Here to Stay

Mobile X-rays Make Healthcare Imaging Comfortable & Convenient

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

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.

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.

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?

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.