Providers, Hospital Leaders Not Threatened by New Market Entrants

Specialty group providers and hospital leaders do not view new entrants into the healthcare market as a major threat, noting that patient loyalty is in their favor, according to a new report.

The Telehealth: The Innovation That's Not Yet a Habit report is based on results from a mid-August survey of 155 healthcare respondents. It was created in partnership with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center's Project Healthcare and The Disruption Lab.

The survey polled 59 healthcare providers from independent specialty groups and 96 hospital leaders, including CEOs, chief financial officers, chief medical officers, chief information officers, and chief strategy officers.

Overall, specialty group providers and hospitals do not appear concerned by new entrants into healthcare, including technology giants like Amazon and retailers like Costco, which announced a virtual care partnership yesterday. The partnership with Sesame — an online marketplace connecting healthcare consumers with providers for in-person and virtual care — will offer Costco members several outpatient healthcare services at a discount. Costco members will gain access to virtual primary care at $29 a visit and virtual mental health therapy at $79.

Only 13 percent of specialty group providers and 27 percent of hospital leaders said new market entrants posed a major threat to them.

About half of providers (54 percent) and hospital leaders (50 percent) said they see little threat from new market entrants due to patient loyalty.

Currently, most specialty groups (37 percent) and hospitals (27 percent) use telehealth for follow-up visits. In addition, 20 percent of specialty groups and 23 percent of hospitals use telehealth for behavioral healthcare, and 16 percent of specialty groups and 19 percent of hospitals employ telehealth in chronic care management.

Only 5 percent of specialty groups and hospitals use telehealth for triage.

Specialty group providers and hospital leaders view patient access and satisfaction as drivers of telehealth implementation. About 73 percent of providers and 75 percent of hospital leaders stated that patient access is an important factor to consider when deciding the level of telehealth visits to provide. However, while 78 percent of hospital leaders stated that patient satisfaction is a key factor in determining the level of telehealth to provide, a smaller proportion of providers (66 percent) agreed.

Patient access and satisfaction also proved to be the top reasons for specialty groups and hospitals to continue providing virtual care. A majority of providers (78 percent) and hospital leaders (75 percent) said they planned to continue providing virtual care to reduce patient access barriers, and 69 percent of providers and 73 percent of leaders said they would continue to provide telehealth to increase patient satisfaction.

The report further shows fewer specialty practice providers and hospital leaders said telehealth had operational and clinical value.

About 59 percent of providers and 52 percent of leaders said they planned to continue providing virtual care because telehealth has proven operationally effective. Another 27 percent and 29 percent of providers and leaders, respectively, said they would continue to provide telehealth because it has proven clinically effective.

Not only that, but few providers and hospital leaders believe telehealth adoption has positively impacted market share growth and referral capture. Approximately 20 percent of providers and 16 percent of leaders said that their organization derived value from telehealth with regard to market share growth, and 13 percent of providers and 12 percent of leaders said the same regarding referral capture.

"Our report findings show that there is a significant missing opportunity in telehealth usage," said Dan D'Orazio, CEO of Sage Growth Partners, in the press release. "Since patients drive so many telehealth decisions, medical providers don't yet think of it as a broader business tool. But, it could be. When implemented correctly, telehealth can increase efficiency, decrease burnout, and improve costs, revenue and market share."