In a recent survey, AdvancedMD uncovered some interesting results when it comes to telemedicine adoption. Some of the results were obvious like the fact that telemedicine is great for treating mental health issues, chronic care management, and follow-up care. Not to mention that most people think the most promising piece of telemedicine is video conferencing (Although, I won’t be surprised if we find out that perceptions were wrong in this regard).
Take a look at some of the results from the survey:
What really stood out to me was that there was one major benefit to telemedicine and that’s “convenience for patients.” This is clear to anyone who even thinks about telemedicine. However, what was surprising to me was how it dwarfed so many of the other benefits. Maybe this was just a result of the study design, but it definitely seems that right now most telemedicine adoption is about the patient’s convenience. That’s a powerful thing to understand.
The two major barriers to telemedicine adoption illustrate clearly why we still haven’t seen mass adoption of telemedicine. Those two barriers are Reimbursement & Coverage and Credentialing & Licensure. Turns out that clinicians don’t want to do something they’re not going to get paid to do. Shocking isn’t it? Plus, you layer on the fears that many have (unfounded or not) about risking their license and you can see why Telemedicine still has a ways to go.
The moral of the story. If we can alleviate those two fears, patients will want the convenience of telemedicine.