Telehealth leaders say virtual care must evolve, but it's not going away | HLTH 2024

Las Vegas - Leaders of the telehealth industry project optimism about the future of virtual care, but they also acknowledge that telehealth is going to have to evolve.

Telehealth executives talked about the state of the industry and the evolution of virtual care at the HLTH conference.

During a panel at the HLTH conference, a group of telehealth leaders expressed full confidence that virtual care is going to be a significant part of healthcare. And they argued forcefully that it will grow.

Vidya Raman-Tangella, MD, chief medical officer of Teladoc, offered an assessment shared by her colleagues on the panel.

“I think we’re all saying telehealth is here to stay,” Raman-Tangella said.

Telehealth use exploded during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it was the only avenue for some Americans to get care. While telehealth continues to be more popular than it was before the pandemic, fewer Americans are opting for virtual appointments.

In 2022, 30% of adults utilized telehealth, down from 37% in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In what some analysts viewed as a troubling sign, Walmart ended its telehealth services earlier this year, just as the world’s biggest retailer announced that it is closing its primary care clinics.

• Read more: Making the case for telehealth and its potential

Roy Schoenberg, MD, executive vice chairman of Amwell, said he sees telehealth enduring.

“When we think about what the role of telehealth is going to be going forward, my personal opinion, telehealth doesn't need saving,” Schoenberg said. “Telehealth is not the problem. It's going to be a part of the way healthcare operates.”

While the telehealth leaders said they see a strong future for their industry, they also acknowledged the need for change.

“As long as we continue to think of telehealth as a distribution model for the exact same thing that we had before telehealth, I don't think we're going to see its real power,” Schoenberg said. “I do 100% believe that it has the power to completely, overwhelmingly change the logistics of healthcare and the experience of healthcare, but I don't think we're there yet. I think that's ahead of us.”

Schoenberg said it’s important to recognize the role of telehealth.

“We are in the piping business,” Schoenberg said. “We are logistics companies. We're not video conferencing companies, and we're not companies that are supposed to, you know, get Cleveland Clinic out of business, or Mayo Clinic out of business. We are there to allow their magic of health care.”

Schoenberg said he sees potential for telehealth to be used in new ways to help more people age in their own homes.

“The question will be, if the piping is strong enough, it is connecting everybody, what kind of new medical practice can we envision, where can we allow patients to age differently because the pipings are connected into their homes,” he said.

• Read more: Telehealth extensions likely won’t be approved until the end of the year

Michael Botta, co-founder of Sesame, said that telehealth is “a modality of delivering care that fits in the entirety of the healthcare system.”

“It’s just part of how we deliver care,” Botta said.

Patients have embraced telehealth for mental health services, and behavioral health remains one area where usage hasn’t dipped, analysts say.

“I think mental health stands out because so many different steps in the care journey are effectively delivered through telehealth,” Botta said. “That's not true for every specialty, but I think what is true is that every specialty has certain elements of the care journey where telehealth is not just a possible modality, but probably the most efficient modality.”

But Botta said the payment mechanisms remain problematic, and that’s a factor that hampers telehealth.

“If you’re going to get paid less or reimbursed less via telehealth, you’re probably going to bring them into the office,” Botta said.

Joanna Strober, CEO and co-founder of Midi Health, said her company’s customers aren’t able to find their services locally and are looking at telehealth as an essential avenue for care. She said 40% of Midi Health’s customers don’t have a provider.

“I actually am super excited about the potential for consumer brands in healthcare that are going to be in different areas of health, that are going to be the place that you're going to trust to go to get certain types of care,” Strober said.

Plus, she said hospitals are limited in just how many different specialized services they can provide.

“Going forward, the hospital systems are limited,” Strober said. “They have boxes. They're not expanding. So, if you want more care, it's going to have to come in different modalities.”

Some of Midi Health’s patients haven’t seen any healthcare providers in a few years, she added.

“Our job is to be a front door and make sure you get access to the highest quality care,” Strober said.

She also said that Midi Health is more than just a delivery mechanism.

“We are not the piping. We are providing high-quality care,” Strober said.

And she envisions new entries in the market that will offer different healthcare services in novel ways.

“I think there’s a new generation of telehealth companies that are going to create better care,” Strober said.

Raman-Tangella said the evolution of telehealth involves re-imagining care.

She posed a key question: “Can we take this fragmented ecosystem and organize it for the patient, instead of having the patient do the organization?”

Telehealth helps fill a void for patients who may be looking for a provider with a similar background, she said. For some patients depending on where they live, it’s easier to find a therapist virtually.

“Patients want to receive therapy from a therapist who relates to their life experience,” Raman-Tangella said.

The telehealth industry can’t lose its focus on providing care safely.

“The one dimension I would add, and I know I think we all take this seriously, is that there has to be a strong and consistent focus on safety and quality,” Raman-Tangella said. “Not a week goes by when you don't read a report or an article that talks about a company that has put safety at risk in favor of something else. And so that's not acceptable."

“So we have to take that seriously,” she said, adding, “I want to make sure that telehealth, yes, it's easy, it's convenient, and it also has to be safe, high quality care.”