Fierce Health Payers January 5, 2022
For all the stress COVID-19 has put on the U.S. healthcare system, the pandemic ultimately will come to be seen as a watershed moment—namely, the point at which virtual care came into its own as a major factor in healthcare delivery.
A recent survey by a national telehealth services provider indicates that hospitals and health systems expect to expand their use of telehealth beyond the COVID era. Indeed, the results point to the imminent arrival of “virtual care 3.0,” or the next era of digital care delivery. Virtual care 1.0 represented pre-COVID use of telehealth for urgent care; 2.0, the pandemic’s need-driven use of scheduled virtual primary and specialty care appointments. Virtual care 3.0 marks the advent of “smart growth”...