Virtual Care is no longer about the future. It is about today.

The numbers speak for themselves: In 2019, 11 percent of consumers used telehealth services. In 2020, that figure vaulted to 46 percent[1].

How big is this market now? According to McKinsey, up to $250 billion of the current US healthcare spending could be virtualized — and soon[2].

We are seeing the new Administration continue to support the rapid deployment of telehealth and virtual care. This is the “new normal” we like to see. One certainty in the post-Covid environment is that the adoption of virtual vital care will continue to accelerate.

If you are a virtual care provider, what exactly does this mean? Solutions such as VitalTech’s market-leading Virtual Care platform both empower the patient as well as the provider.

Virtual care expansion into primary care and support of chronic disease management is key. VitalTech takes it a step further, helping patients manage their daily health needs through vitals reporting including blood pressure, heart rate, Sp02, and temperature. Additionally, VitalCare’s user-friendly app includes a nutritional guidance module and a medication module, to ensure patients take the right medication at the right time.

It is no wonder nine in 10 seniors who took advantage of Medicare’s telehealth access plan reported a positive experience[3].

Telehealth and virtual care have grown so quickly that there are considerable challenges amidst the undeniable opportunity. While these are good challenges to have – they are the headwinds of accommodating such rapid growth – they nevertheless remain challenges.

Was our industry ready for such a dramatic expansion of virtual care? Yes. Virtual care rose admirably to the occasion and platforms such as VitalCare are now becoming rapidly integrated into the care continuum.

For providers, there is now an unprecedented opportunity to work with payers to migrate to more patient-centered, holistic, prevention-centered solutions that yield cost benefits and better patient outcomes, especially compared to the traditional fee-for-service model.

There weren’t a lot of good things in 2020, but this was one of them. Virtual care providers saved lives by accelerating both the implementation of virtual care and expanding how it is applied, truly harnessing the technology of platforms such as VitalTech’s.