Retraction Watch Co-Founder Ivan Oransky

Telehealth

Virtual Care is Table-Stakes, Now What?

There’s no catalyst like a pandemic to transform virtual care from a niche offering to a must-have service, at least according to the 8,000 people who responded to Rock Health’s latest Consumer Adoption Survey.

Virtual care has become table-stakes for both patients and providers, with a majority of respondents using it within the past year (63%).

• A mature market doesn’t mean virtual care is for everyone. Almost a quarter of respondents still have never used it, citing preferences for in-person care (56%), quality concerns (18%), and lack of awareness (13%).

• Rock Health doesn’t expect adoption to ever reach 100%, and anticipates always needing a spectrum of omnichannel offerings – traditional, virtual, and retail – to meet consumers’ preferences and capabilities.

There’s a growing share of respondents that prefer virtual care over in-person care for use cases like prescription refills (69%, up 8pp) and mental health services (41%, up 3pp). [Chart]

• That isn’t too surprising given that refills are transactional care encounters, making them well-suited to low-touch virtual channels like app or portal messaging.

• Virtual mental health on the other hand reflects a changing status quo, where consumers want to choose from a wider range of providers with different identities or treatment approaches (especially relevant in mental healthcare), and can conveniently access them for regularly scheduled visits.

Consumers are drawn to convenience, but virtual care innovators will need to invest in additional value drivers like data security and user-friendliness to stay competitive.

• While convenience helped drive virtual care’s popularity, it also attracted competition from retailers, grocers, and CarePods that have the advantage of bundling healthcare with other routines like grocery shopping.

• For virtual care players, continuing to compete on convenience involves considering both when and where virtual is really more convenient than the best in-person offering, and when it makes sense to partner with retailers as opposed to competing on other differentiators.

The Takeaway

Rock Health’s survey makes it clear that we’re in a new era of virtual care, one that brings its own set of market pressures. Those looking to succeed will have to navigate new value propositions (what defines the best virtual care), alternatives (virtual care doesn’t have a monopoly on convenience or access), and as always, the regulatory/reimbursement landscape.

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The Wire

• Life Expectancy Increases: Life expectancy for the US population in 2022 was 77.5 years, up over an entire year from 2021 (76.4). Although we’d love to point to a medical breakthrough for the progress, the CDC report attributes the increase to fewer deaths from COVID and drug overdoses. Heart disease and cancer remained the leading causes of death, while COVID was replaced by “accidental injuries” in the third slot. US life expectancy has yet to recover to its prepandemic peak of 78.8 years in 2019.

• Syllable Acquires Actium: Process automation company Syllable acquired Actium Health, whose platform combs through EHR data to predict patients’ likelihood of needing specific medical services, including care gaps and risk for progression. Joining forces will allow Syllable to add Actium to its existing AI offerings for health systems while presumably advancing the model with data from its own Patient Assistant digital front door.

• Nabla Rolls Out Magic Edit: Nabla rolled out a new Magic Edit feature on Nabla Copilot that allows providers to quickly customize their notes to match their preferences. The AI-driven edit function further streamlines the documentation process by letting providers regenerate notes by typing custom directions or selecting from a menu of preset options instead of manually editing them. It’s still mind-blowing to see genAI in action, and this 8-second video does a great job getting the magic across.

• Wegovy Lands Medicare Coverage: Less than two weeks after Wegovy gained expanded FDA approval for cardiovascular event risk reduction, CMS issued a new Medicare Part D guidance that allows coverage of obesity drugs for senior patients with “an additional medically accepted indication,” such as cardiovascular disease. That’s big news for Novo Nordisk and obesity care in general, showing that if obesity drugs can improve other key health outcomes they stand a good chance of achieving both FDA approval and Medicare coverage.

• DTC Telehealth Linked to More Scripts: An analysis of nearly 28k pediatric patients with acute respiratory tract infections linked direct-to-consumer telehealth to more antibiotic prescriptions than virtual visits with a primary care provider. About 29% of telehealth visits with PCPs resulted in antibiotics, compared to 37% for the DTC companies, although the authors didn’t explore whether the difference was due to modality of care (telemedicine vs in-person) or the context of care (primary care vs. not primary care).

• March Madness Buzzword Bracket: Round one of Fierce Healthcare’s March Madness Buzzwords Tournament is in the books, and we’re one step closer to finding out this year’s most overused healthcare buzzword. Possibly the heaviest favorite of all time, “generative AI” demolished “FHIR” in round one with 94% of the vote, while “purpose-driven” also claimed a surprise victory over “dynamic” in the Corporate Speak division. You can play along by voting here.

• Who Double-Checks the AI? A stand-out viewpoint in JAMA questioned the assumption that clinicians will double-check the output of generative AI models, especially as provider orgs push higher productivity to justify their AI investments. Not only is genAI both convincing and usually accurate, but “humans are terrible at vigilance,” and the author offers several examples of why operationalizing guardrails is key to addressing the issue (e.g. flagging automation bias in clinicians who almost always accept AI-generated responses).

• New Wave of Breakthrough Devices: At least 40 medical devices have achieved the FDA’s coveted Breakthrough Device Designation over the past six months, according to STAT’s excellent Breakthrough Devices tracker. Although the BDD program is designed to get novel products in the hands of patients faster, it’s perhaps given an even larger boost to device manufacturers, who stand to gain both favor with investors and an easier path to Medicare coverage. Among the newly designated devices, AI diagnostics companies appear to be leading the charge.

• FC Most Innovative Companies: Fast Company put out its annual list of the most innovative companies in healthcare, comprised of 15 movers-and-shakers pushing the industry forward. Ambiguous selection criteria aside, it’s hard to argue with the roster, which includes Bicycle Health “for finding new ways to help vulnerable people treat their opioid use disorder,” Included Health “for using virtual care to help employers,” and Texas-based pediatric system Children’s Health “for training primary care doctors to be on the front line of mental health.”

• Humana Partners With DUOS: Humana partnered with DUOS to launch a collaborative program aimed at enhancing the care navigation experience and improving outcomes for Louisiana veteran members with chronic conditions. The program connects participating members to DUOS, where they’ll complete a health needs assessment before getting matched with benefits and resources available through their MA plan or veterans’ benefits.

• PCP Shortage Tied to Crowded EDs: A new study in Health Affairs found that people living in areas with primary care shortages face a greater risk of emergency complications and surgeries. Researchers analyzed Medicare patient data for three time sensitive surgeries (colectomy for cancer, aortic aneurysm repair, hernia repair), finding that those in areas with the most severe PCP shortages required emergency surgery 38% of the time (vs. 30% in areas with the least severe shortages), while also having a higher risk of serious complications (15% vs. 12%), and hospital readmission (16% vs. 14%).

Unlock Revenue Potential in Payor Enrollment

Tune into Medallion’s Webinar on April 4 to delve into the intricacies of managing providers’ CAQH profiles during payor enrollment and learn the best practices to prevent any lapses. They’ll be walking through the end-to-end process, as well as the solutions that can help elevate your credentialing workflow.

Mankato Clinic Shares Lessons From AI Implementation

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Selecting Your Drug Database and CDS Solution

Do your providers need easy access to real-time drug knowledge and clinical decision support? Explore Synapse Medicine’s complete guide to drug database advantages, use cases, challenges, and factors to consider when selecting the right solution for your organization.