National utilization trends suggest telehealth has not expanded access to healthcare, as only a small number of people make up the majority of users, FastCompany reported March 18.
According to the report, only 25.6 percent of Americans utilized telehealth during the pandemic, meaning almost 75 percent of Americans did not. Yet, 30 percent of digital health funding dollars in the first half of 2021 went into telehealth.
Data from a Trilliant Health report published in February also shows that the total market demand for telehealth is low.
Researchers found the total addressable market for telehealth users is just 10 million people out of the nation's population of 330 million, meaning telehealth, which was created to give underserved and at-risk communities more access to care, has not been able to reach those patients. Instead, telehealth has only expanded care to those people who had easy access to care before the pandemic. Researchers found the largest group of telehealth users is women age 21-40 who are commercially insured and live in affluent areas.
Telehealth supply will continue to increase with the recent telehealth flexibilities passed by the federal omnibus spending bill and with more hospitals and health systems investing in virtual visits. But there needs to be more emphasis on understanding the reasons consumers are not using it before it gains wider usage in underserved populations.