Telehealth Use 'Stabilized' 38X Higher Than Pre-pandemic, McKinsey says

Favorable patient responses and new investments in the technology will propel the growth of telehealth in 2021

After a spike at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, telehealth use has stabilized at levels 38 times higher than before the pandemic.

This strong continued uptake, along with favorable patient responses, and new investments in the technology will propel the growth of telehealth in 2021, according to a report from McKinsey & Co.

Overall telehealth use for office visits and outpatient care was 78 times higher in April 2020 than in February 2020, representing nearly one-third (32%) of office and outpatient visits for the month.

The surge in telehealth use was prompted by the pandemic, the shutdown in in-person visits, an increased willingness by patients and providers to use telehealth, and the availability of federal reimbursements for telehealth.

Since that high-water mark, "utilization levels have largely stabilized, ranging from 13% to 17% across all specialties," McKinsey wrote. "This utilization reflects more than two-thirds of what we anticipated as visits that could be virtualized."

In May 2020, McKinsey estimated that up to $250 billion of US healthcare spend could potentially be shifted to virtual or virtually enabled care. One year later, the management consulting firm notes that "this potential level of virtual health is not a foregone conclusion."

"It would likely require sustained consumer and clinician adoption and accelerated redesign of care pathways to incorporate virtual modalities," the analysis said.

McKinsey identified other causes for the growth in telehealth, including:

• Improving provider and consumer attitudes about telehealth since the pre-pandemic era.
   
• Regulatory changes to expand telehealth, such as the expansion of reimbursements for virtual services by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. However, McKinsey warned that there is growing uncertainty about the status of those reimbursements when the public health emergency expires.
   
• The skyrocketing growth of venture capital investment in digital health, which in 2020 was three times the level seen in 2017.
   
• The ongoing evolution of telehealth care and business models, expanding from virtual urgent care or primary care to a wider range of services that would include hybrid virtual/in-person visits and longitudinal virtual care.