Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Telehealth: Get ready for big changes in health care

Paul D. Kivela, MD
Tech
March 15, 2020
Share
Tweet
Share

The year 2020 might bear witness to a significant shift in control of health care from the providers, insurers, and the government to actual health care consumers.

First, it was the politicians, then the tech conferences and promises of 5G, and now global pandemic scares are all signaling the demand for remote health care.

The delivery of health care has been in the hands of hospitals and physicians for nearly a century. The government really started to exert their control when Medicare and Medicaid started in the 1960s.

Large private insurance companies started to significantly exert their control in the 1970s.

With the coming of Obamacare almost exactly a decade ago, the structure of health plans changed as their profit model counted on greater patient responsibility through high deductible and copays. The failure of hospitals, physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies to be able to work together has caused consolidation.

Either as a cause or result of the consolidation, investors’ payback demands and greed have further exploded health care pricing. This past decade saw pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies dramatically raise their prices on common medications.

One example was a commonly prescribed antibiotic that went from $4 to in excess of $600 for the same medication. Many hospitals and some physicians have similarly raised their prices but not to those extremes. Insurance companies have also posted record profits with no intentions of slowing down.

As a result, U.S. employers large and small are losing their competitive advantage in an international economy, and U.S. patients are either foregoing health care or facing bankruptcy as even insured patients are realizing that their insurance is “subprime” and inadequate to cover their needs.

As a result, Congress and the Senate have proposed legislation that will essentially “rate set” some of the physician and pharmaceutical charges. Unfortunately, they have not realized or don’t have the political will to deal with the real problem, which is health plan design, and investor domination of insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and hospitals, and now practitioner organizations. However, as Congress and the Senate try to dance around and try to find temporary solutions to the insurance design crisis, some of our largest and innovative companies are somewhat silently creating a shift in health care delivery.

I think the signal occurred less than two years ago on January 30, 2018, when Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and J.P. Morgan announced the formation of the nonprofit Haven. More recently, Apple’s health care market opportunity was estimated to be as high as a whopping $313 billion in revenue by 2027, according to estimates from a team of Morgan Stanley analysts. Apple has gone one step further and created a subsidiary called AC Wellness. Google is in the game as well with Verily Life Sciences. Not to be outdone, even small retail companies like Best Buy are entering the marketplace, and virtually every large direct to consumer retail company has entered the arena, including CVS, Walgreens, Target, Walmart, and Kroger.

The enabling pieces are also being put together. On October 30, 2019, both the Congress and Senate announced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to finally empower telehealth and telemedicine and on December 31, 2019, the American Medical Association announced its call to support the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact so that physicians can use telehealth to compete against vendors, retail clinics and payers moving into the space.

All of this is signaling the same thing. The industry resistance to change is over. Telehealth is the future, and the future is imminent. The next several years will likely finally see a dramatic increase in the use of telehealth to improve health care delivery and decrease costs. This will likely decrease the delays in seeing a specialist, expand rural access to health care, and decrease the need for medical transport to hospitals and often times physician’s offices. With every change, there will be winners and losers, and there still will likely be resistance by those unable or unwilling to change. Likely this time, patient’s access to care will be faster, the care better, and the cost lower.

Paul D. Kivela is an emergency physician and CMO, ConveneMed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Please listen to the COVID-19 coronavirus experts. Help us save lives.

March 15, 2020 Kevin 3
…
Next

Incorporate physician well-being into your job search criteria

March 15, 2020 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Please listen to the COVID-19 coronavirus experts. Help us save lives.
Next Post >
Incorporate physician well-being into your job search criteria

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

  • How social media can help or hurt your health care career

    Health eCareers
  • Get ready for health care disruption

    Praveen Suthrum
  • Turn physicians into powerful health care influencers

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Expanding health care access and equity through telehealth

    Gjanje L. Smith, MD, MPH, Wanneh A. Dixon, and Maria Phillips, JD
  • Changes are coming to health care in 2020. Are you ready?

    David Conejo
  • America leads the world in high tech care and health care costs

    Mark Kelley, MD

More in Tech

  • How I stopped typing notes and started seeing my patients again

    William S. Micka, MD
  • How AI is reshaping preventive medicine

    Jalene Jacob, MD, MBA
  • Why clinicians must lead health care tech innovation

    Kimberly Smith, RN
  • Why medical notes have become billing scripts instead of patient stories

    Sriman Swarup, MD, MBA
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    AI in health care is moving too fast for the human heart

    Tiffiny Black, DM, MPA, MBA
  • Why AI in health care needs the same scrutiny as chemotherapy

    Rafael Rolon Rivera, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why doctors must fight for a just health care system

      Alankrita Olson, MD, MPH & Ashley Duhon, MD & Toby Terwilliger, MD | Policy
    • The human case for preserving the nipple after mastectomy

      Thomas Amburn, MD | Conditions
    • Nuclear verdicts and rising costs: How inflation is reshaping medical malpractice claims

      Robert E. White, Jr. & The Doctors Company | Policy
    • IMGs are the future of U.S. primary care

      Adam Brandon Bondoc, MD | Physician
    • Why I left the clinic to lead health care from the inside

      Vandana Maurya, MHA | Conditions
    • How nature is inspiring the future of pain medicine

      Varun Mangal | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Health equity in Inland Southern California requires urgent action

      Vishruth Nagam | Policy
    • How restrictive opioid policies worsen the crisis

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why primary care needs better dermatology training

      Alex Siauw | Conditions
    • Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • What street medicine taught me about healing

      Alina Kang | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • How nature is inspiring the future of pain medicine

      Varun Mangal | Conditions
    • Why doctors must fight for a just health care system

      Alankrita Olson, MD, MPH & Ashley Duhon, MD & Toby Terwilliger, MD | Policy
    • Affordable postpartum hemorrhage solutions every OB/GYN can use worldwide [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • When cancer costs too much: Why financial toxicity deserves a place in clinical conversations

      Yousuf Zafar, MD | Physician
    • Psychiatrist tests ketogenic diet for mental health benefits

      Zane Kaleem, MD | Conditions
    • The hidden rewards of a primary care career

      Jerina Gani, MD, MPH | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 1 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why doctors must fight for a just health care system

      Alankrita Olson, MD, MPH & Ashley Duhon, MD & Toby Terwilliger, MD | Policy
    • The human case for preserving the nipple after mastectomy

      Thomas Amburn, MD | Conditions
    • Nuclear verdicts and rising costs: How inflation is reshaping medical malpractice claims

      Robert E. White, Jr. & The Doctors Company | Policy
    • IMGs are the future of U.S. primary care

      Adam Brandon Bondoc, MD | Physician
    • Why I left the clinic to lead health care from the inside

      Vandana Maurya, MHA | Conditions
    • How nature is inspiring the future of pain medicine

      Varun Mangal | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Health equity in Inland Southern California requires urgent action

      Vishruth Nagam | Policy
    • How restrictive opioid policies worsen the crisis

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why primary care needs better dermatology training

      Alex Siauw | Conditions
    • Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • What street medicine taught me about healing

      Alina Kang | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • How nature is inspiring the future of pain medicine

      Varun Mangal | Conditions
    • Why doctors must fight for a just health care system

      Alankrita Olson, MD, MPH & Ashley Duhon, MD & Toby Terwilliger, MD | Policy
    • Affordable postpartum hemorrhage solutions every OB/GYN can use worldwide [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • When cancer costs too much: Why financial toxicity deserves a place in clinical conversations

      Yousuf Zafar, MD | Physician
    • Psychiatrist tests ketogenic diet for mental health benefits

      Zane Kaleem, MD | Conditions
    • The hidden rewards of a primary care career

      Jerina Gani, MD, MPH | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Telehealth: Get ready for big changes in health care
1 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...