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Telehealth Statistics – Recent Trends and Forecasts
Editor’s note: Daria overviews the current state of the telemedicine market, looks into telehealth app development forecasts and provides the most relevant statistics on the topic. If you are interested in telemedicine technology, you are also welcome to consider ScienceSoft’s offering in the development of telemedicine apps.
Telecommunication technologies in the healthcare industry are already widely used and keep on their expansion. However, some care providers, healthcare software development companies, healthcare experts, and digital marketers doubt whether telemedicine adoption is worth investing time and money in. I guess the reason for this uncertainty lies in the lack of insights into the telemedicine market.
Based on ScienceSoft’s telehealth research and experience in medical app development, I reveal some important telemedicine market statistics and outline the market trends. The insights I share will help healthcare organizations, software product companies and medical device manufacturers decide if telemedicine is worth investing in. Journalists, marketing specialists, and researchers in the healthcare industry can also benefit from the statistics provided.
Telehealth market size and dynamics
The global telehealth market is forecasted to grow from $25.4 billion in 2020 to $55.6 billion by 2025 with CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 16.9% [1]. Such fast growth is mainly driven by the following factors:
- The growing population and the need to expand healthcare access.
- The rise of chronic diseases and conditions.
- The shortage of medical staff.
- Advancements in telecommunications.
- Government support.
- The increase of patient awareness.
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60.3% North America’s share of the global telehealth market in 2019. |
$17 billion The US telehealth market value in 2019, with CAGR of nearly 36% from 2018. [2] |
Principal telehealth domains and use cases
Among the main telehealth domains that the National Telehealth Resource Center defines are:
- Live Videoconferencing (Synchronous): Live, two-way interaction between a person and a healthcare provider using audiovisual telecommunications technology.
- Store-and-Forward (Asynchronous): Transmission of a patient’s medical information through an electronic communications system to a care provider without a real-time interaction.
- Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM): Personal health and medical data collection from an individual in one location via electronic communication technologies, which is transmitted to a provider (hospitals, clinics, living facilities, etc.) in a different location for use in care and related support. We demonstrate how RPM can be beneficial for patients' health outcomes in a sample telehealth app with remote patient monitoring.
Remote patient monitoring and live videoconferencing are the most popular telehealth domains. According to the Vidyo Telehealth Adoption Survey 2019 [3], 46% of surveyed health care providers (hospitals and clinics) use live videoconferencing, and 41% employ RPM to deliver medical care. The Store-and-Forward domain is third with 26%.
Below, you can find top use cases mentioned by the surveyed healthcare specialists:
Telehealth during the COVID-19 outbreak
Due to the pandemic, many telemedicine providers have already reported growth in demand for their solutions:
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Teladoc Health says its video appointments surged by 50% [9]. |
PlushCare declares appointments are up by 70% [10]. |
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Amwell confirms that the usage of their app has increased by 158% nationwide and increased by 650% in Washington State since the virus hit the US [10]. |
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One Medical reports a 51% increase in engagement with its digital platform [11]. |
Forward says that the usage of their self-diagnosis tool has jumped 400% [11]. |
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Sykes, a customer experience IT vendor, has recently surveyed 2,000 adults from around the United States [12] to assess their perceptions and experiences with telehealth technology in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
12% of respondents have already used a telehealth service for something related to COVID-19.
73% of respondents say they would consider using a telehealth service if they felt they had COVID-19 symptoms.
How physicians adopt telehealth tech
As American Well’s Telehealth Index: 2019 Physician Survey [5] shows, 340,000 – 590,000 US physicians are estimated to use telehealth technology by 2022.
Physicians who have already used telehealth technology in practice note that telemedicine solutions:
How patients use telehealth apps
66% of patients are willing to use virtual care, and 8% have tried it, according to the Telehealth Index: 2019 Consumer Survey [6]. Among patients who are willing to use connected health, 61% say they’d use it for convenience and faster service, and 54% say they’d use it to save money.
According to the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Telehealth Satisfaction Study [7], telehealth consumers say their entire experience took an average of 44 minutes:
84% of telemedicine users were able to completely resolve their medical concerns during their virtual visit, and 73% did not experience problems during their service. [7]
Telehealth statistics know
Statistics prove that telemedicine is already an integral part of the medical industry, and its popularity is not going to fall. Healthcare organizations (hospitals, clinics, assisted living facilities, etc.) eagerly opt for telehealth solutions while medical staff and patients mostly have a positive experience with telemedicine technology. Relying on the statistics results, I am convinced that it is high time to take advantage of telemedicine, as the market and demand grow. If you want to know how to use telemedicine to your advantage, you are welcome to turn to ScienceSoft’ healthcare IT consultants.
References
[1] Telehealth Market, Trends & Global Forecast to 2025
[2] Growth Opportunities in the US Telehealth Market, Forecast to 2021
[3] Vidyo Telehealth Adoption Survey 2019
[4] 2019 Health System Consumer Telehealth Benchmark Survey
[5] Telehealth Index: 2019 Physician Survey
[6] Telehealth Index: 2019 Consumer Survey
[7] J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Telehealth Satisfaction Study
[8] Americans’ Perceptions of Telehealth in the Era of COVID-19
[9] The webcam will see you now: Doctors urge patients to replace in-person visits with apps by The Washington Post
[10] Telemedicine struggles to be an option for everyone in the wake of coronavirus by Quartz
[11] Trump boosts telehealth services in the fight against coronavirus by CNN
[12] Survey Report: Americans’ Perceptions of Telehealth in the Era of COVID-19