The use of nontraditional care delivery services is increasing among U.S. patients, with about 29 percent of respondents to a survey published by Accenture saying they used some form of virtual care last year, up from 21 percent in 2017.
Accenture, a management consulting company, surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. adults to evaluate their attitudes toward traditional and nontraditional healthcare service delivery. Traditional services include care received in hospitals, clinics or physicians' offices. Nontraditional services include walk-in clinics, retail clinics and virtual care.
The survey found many patients who have not used nontraditional care delivery services would be willing to do so, and some patients are skipping traditional care in favor of nontraditional care.
For example, the choice of nontraditional healthcare surpasses traditional for cold/virus treatment (65 percent versus 48 percent), flu shots (62 percent versus 54 percent) and checking vitals (59 percent vs. 54 percent).
And virtual care has become an appealing channel for consumers with more complex needs, the survey found. For example, patients would seek out virtual care for routine therapy/mental health, physical injury treatment and sexually transmitted disease screenings/treatment.