A new report from Deloitte indicates the electronic visit (eVisit) market will explode as more healthcare providers use telemedicine services to virtually care for their patients.
The report, referenced in a ComputerWorld article, indicates that in the U.S. and Canada alone, the number of eVisits will reach 75 million in 2014. Across the world, that number will be 100 million. The study found that this growth is up 400 percent from 2012.
At the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), leaders have attempted to make eVisits a normal part of the panoply of care delivery offerings in its organization. According to Daniel Martich, M.D., CMIO at UPMC, a study at the organization showed that eVisits are clinically comparable to in-person visits in terms of effectiveness.
"Given all that we’ve learned so far, should it come as a surprise that our e-visit program has been so successful and such a hit with both patients and physicians? Really, it shouldn’t. Let’s face it: the world is changing quickly, and we live in the Internet Age. Think about the expectations of younger healthcare consumers for immediacy of response and action," Dr. Martich wrote in a blog.
