Telehealth Appears to Be Catching on with Consumers—and Some Clinicians

The newly released results of a consumer survey on telemedicine indicates a majority of Americans are open to using telemedicine when needed. Granted, the research was conducted by American Well, a telemedicine company with a heavily vested interest in seeing the concept take off; nonetheless, it echoes a growing trend among some urgent care operators like Righttime Medical Care. According to the American Well data, 66% of respondents are willing to use telehealth. Among those, 61% said convenience would be the main reason, while 54% cited money savings as the primary motivation. Perhaps most interesting, 25% said they would be willing to switch from their primary care physician to one who offers virtual appointments. Less surprising is that Millennial-generation patients (those born between 1981 and 1996) are three times more likely to have had a virtual visit compared with other age groups. Another study that focused on which provider groups are most open to telemedicine, conducted by Doximity, revealed that radiologists, psychiatrists, internal medicine providers, neurologists, and family physicians are most interested in telemedicine.