Roughly 44 percent of healthcare organizations have not yet adopted telemedicine, but 86 percent say it is a priority, according to a Sage Growth Partners survey.
Sage fielded a survey in May 2017 which drew insights from 98 respondents, of whom were C-suite executives (59 percent) and service line leaders or department chiefs (41 percent). Respondents represented integrated delivery networks (30 percent), community hospitals (30 percent), specialty hospitals (25 percent) and academic medical centers (16 percent).
Here are nine things to know.
1. Of the 56 percent of respondents who said they've already adopted telemedicine in their organizations, 27 percent have built or are building their own solution, while 29 percent are already working with one or more vendors.
2. The majority of respondents saw a positive return on investment within three years in the outpatient clinic (75 percent), non-emergency hospital care (72 percent), emergency hospital care (71 percent), remote patient monitoring (68 percent), apps for virtual post-acute specialty care (63 percent), apps for virtual patient-initiated primary care on the patient's mobile device (62 percent) and post-acute care in the facility (62 percent).
3. The majority of respondents (79 percent) believe telemedicine will contribute to less than 15 percent of their total revenue in three years.
4. At organizations with telemedicine, about 66 percent said their telemedicine budgets are $250,000 or less, while 25 percent have budgets of $250,000 to $1 million.
5. Only 9 percent of respondents believe that 25 percent or more of their patient encounters will be virtual in three years.
6. The No. 1 setting for telemedicine today is in emergency cases in the hospital (29 percent), followed by remote patient home monitoring (21 percent) and non-emergency hospital cases (20 percent).
7. Seventy-five percent of respondents believe telemedicine could transform the standard of care for behavioral health and psychiatry, while approximately half believe it will transform care in neurology (53 percent), primary care (52 percent) and cardiology (48 percent).
8. Seventy percent believe telemedicine has already transformed the standard of care for stroke.
9. Executives rank security of data and devices/ HIPAA compliance as their No. 1 must-have capability, followed by high-quality image and audio resolution (74 percent), reliable connectivity (70 percent) and 24/7 tech support (70 percent).
Download the report here.