Last summer I wrote about research suggesting that the medical community and patients are sufficiently impressed by the switch to telehealth brought about by the pandemic that it will endure once the pandemic eases.  New research from Syracuse University suggests that enthusiasm has not abated a year on.

“We were surprised by the results,” the researchers say. “We initially thought that, because of the challenges of telehealth, physicians would not be in favor of continuing post-pandemic. It turns out they do. But make no mistake, there are challenges.”

One of the core challenges was with the technology itself, as both it and the supporting infrastructure require investment and training, both on the side of the physician and the patient.  Despite this, there was general support for telehealth across the medical community.

Support for telehealth

“In the U.S. we talk about this iron triangle of healthcare which is quality, access and cost,” the researchers say. “The results of this survey show that physicians who practice internal medicine are in favor, more than 40%, say they would continue with telehealth. This is great in terms of achieving the iron triangle.”

The concerns were broadly similar to that involved in the introduction of any new technology.  For instance, physicians would have to purchase the appropriate software and then figure out how to effectively use it.  There were also concerns raised about the possible concentration of vendors supplying the market.

“As consumers we want competition which reduces the price and increases the quality,” the researchers say. “On one hand, from this survey I believe telehealth can increase access. On the other hand as a health economist I worry that market concentration will reduce access. As a researcher my goal is to understand the problem and anticipate future problems. This could be one. The goal of advancing telehealth is to increase access, and market concentration can make things work backwards. We cannot ignore this, if this is going to be the next big thing. Let’s make sure, as policymakers, that we don’t allow market concentration to happen.”