By Chris Gallagher, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer | Access TeleCare
As Featured in Becker’s Hospital Review
Sept. 3, 2024
With the news that UnitedHealth Group is ending its telehealth offerings, Amwell and Teladoc have seen their stocks plummet more than 50% in the past year, Walmart is shuttering all 51 health centers and its virtual care services and Optum is shutting down its virtual care unit after a three-year run, it’s easy for the headlines to be reduced to: telehealth is dead.
… Like so many topics today, the reality is so much more nuanced – and it’s up to the people on the ground to lift the curtain that bifurcates everything into an ‘all or nothing’ narrative.
While we are seeing the complexity of America’s healthcare system play out in headlines about the future of direct-to-consumer (i.e., outpatient) virtual care, the ability to provide telemedicine to acute patients in rural hospitals around the country is not only impacting the quality of care those patients receive, but it is having a significant impact on those hospitals’ bottom lines – in some cases, keeping them in business.
We need to stop conflating telemedicine and ambulatory care
With the headlines focused on the future of direct-to-consumer (DTC) telehealth, there is a lack of discussion about how the virtual care market is evolving away from commoditized models to meet far more pressing challenges, such as enhancing and expanding specialty care services, solving the physician shortage and keeping rural hospitals’ doors open. Read more >>
