More evidence of the potential and power of telemedicine emerged from a Deloitte study of patient "visits" to medical professionals' offices. Nearly 13 percent of all general practitioner appointments made in the U.S. and Canada this year will be electronic "eVisits."
Deloitte estimated that patients in North America will schedule some 600 million appointments with their general practitioner this year, and that 75 million of them will be of the electronic sort. Telemedicine — the practice of receiving, delivering or sharing medical care or information electronically — has been gathering considerable momentum in recent years, with the private sector latching on because it can save corporate dollars and also lead to better outcomes.
Deloitte concluded that such electronic consults could save $5 billion worldwide, when it extrapolated its U.S./Canada results across the globe. It said worldwide eVisits would top 100 million in 2014. That's a 400 percent increase in such consults since 2012, Deloitte said.
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While such visits are still at a rather basic level, primarily consisting of information gathering via computer, such data collection could still lead to an online diagnosis, Deloitte posited.
"For example, patients with symptoms of certain illnesses such as sinusitis, strep throat, allergies, bladder infection or acne would complete an online form and then receive a diagnosis and, if required, a prescription," Deloitte said.
Should eVisits eventually comprise as much as 40 percent of patient/practitioner interaction, that could translate into as much as $60 billion in business being done via telemedicine, Deloitte said.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
