Please support Telehealth.org’s ability to deliver helpful news, opinions, and analyses by turning off your ad blocker. Across the globe, telehealth growth has been impressive. Driven by the need to reduce contact in the early days of the pandemic, telehealth is now predicted to become a quarter trillion dollar industry. With increased access, convenience, and lower costs, telehealth growth is fueled by telecommunication speed and reliability. While new data confirm earlier projections that telehealth growth will continue, clearer growth rates are currently being released to clarify areas of focus.
Telehealth Growth Financial Projections
While the global telemedicine market was estimated at $68.3 billion in 2021, it is now projected by GRG Health to rise to $324.38 billion in 2031, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.9%. Citing consumer and provider satisfaction, investor interest, and remaining challenges, a recent McKinsey and Company report mirrored these findings, estimating that telehealth is now positioned as a quarter-trillion-dollar industry.
Recent announcements from players outside the industry, such as Amazon, Walmart, CVS, and other retail giants, tout the palpable shortcomings of traditional healthcare and lead the investor dollars dedicated to profiting from telehealth growth. Although predictable, false starts with large retailers such as Amazon are sobering. Despite newcomer inexperience and ensuing complications, the push to improve healthcare through digitization will open the door to more innovation in areas such as remote therapeutic monitoring, particularly since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has steadily been approving new CPT billing codes for these services for several years. Known as Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) in behavioral care, the increased reimbursement for these digitized services will open the door to more innovation.
2022 Conference Telehealth Topics
As industry conferences get underway again, current trends and future expectations for telehealth growth are central to many presentations citing:
- The pre-and post-COVID telehealth adoption
- Reasons for the dramatic uptake since COVID
- Predictions about which industry segments are most likely to grow
- Steps to prepare for the inevitable digitization of healthcare.
Conference discussion topics often point to consumer-driven areas with the most promise. An example is the recent Park Associate’s annual Connected Health Summit, a virtual conference featuring innovation in consumer behavior, IoT technologies, and operations. Parks Associates’ telehealth research shows that 74% of US homes with Internet access and children living at home availed themselves of telehealth services over the last twelve months, compared to 32% without children at home. They also reported that seven out of ten households with children at home intend to use telehealth services in the future.
While healthcare conferences worldwide discuss telehealth innovation in 2022 with increased vigor, the end goal remains to deliver more effective, timely, and competency-based care to all who can benefit.
Telehealth Growth – Positioning Your Telehealth Services Now
Change is in the wind. Today’s professionals are tasked to consider how they and their organizations can develop manageable strategic plans to implement effective and long-lasting change. The McKinsey and Company report concludes:
A $3 billion revenue market has the potential to grow to $250 billion. The seeds for success will be sown in the next few months during the COVID-19 crisis. Healthcare systems that come out ahead will be those who act decisively, invest to build capabilities at scale, work hard to rewire the care delivery model, and deliver distinctive, high-quality care to consumers.
If the reader has not yet taken at least 15-minutes to consider action steps toward telehealth growth, now is the time to stop and reflect. With a quarter of a trillion-dollar industry exploding at the door, planning is in order.
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