A Cigna + Oscar survey found that small businesses in particular benefit from digital health.Virtual care has barriers to entry. Healthcare providers can do more to help it meet its potential.
McKinsey & Company found that while virtual primary care spiked in popularity in April 2020, utilization levels later stabilized to represent 13% to 17% across all specialties.than before the pandemic, but there is still potential for the service to reach more people and improve healthcare plans. "Virtual care is particularly important to small companies because of the flexibility it provides. Small businesses can feel the impact of staffing shortages and tight schedules more, or may be tied to a location," DeStefano said."Virtual care offers that much needed flexibility in how, when, and where employees can get care."
For businesses, this means their employees can get health issues resolved fast from the comfort of their homes without having to spend hours in an urgent-care clinic. There's no trip to a doctor or having to arrange childcare. It's a few taps from an app, and you can easily connect with a provider via a phone or message consultation.
For Oscar, 98% of its members on virtual plans who have used the virtual primary-care program would recommend it, internal dataMembers are also using it to establish meaningful long-term primary-care relationships: 85% of members surveyed who have used the program said they intended to use virtual primary care as their only primary-care provider going forward and/or when health issues arise, as opposed to using it as a second opinion or supplementary to an existing primary-care relationship.
cignaoscar CancelBusinessInsider