Covid-19 has upended many of our habits, not least of which is the way we receive health care. In fact, a new study by Accenture reveals that the pandemic has dramatically altered Texans’ attitudes toward telehealth.
Nearly half of the Texas population (47%), prior to the pandemic, had little to no familiarity with virtual care. This absence of awareness, combined with patient reluctance and a lack of turnkey technologies, was among factors stagnating the growth of virtual health practices in the Lone Star State.
An estimated 4.5 million state residents began using virtual health care services since the onset of the pandemic. One-fourth of Texans surveyed said they first learned about telehealth following the outbreak of Covid-19, while the number of those who said they knew a little or a lot about virtual care increased 25% following the outbreak.
As a result, Texans are coming away with overwhelmingly positive impressions of remote care, with a majority of patients rating their telehealth visits as good or better than the virtual care they received before the pandemic. What’s more, nearly half of Texans now trust a virtual visit as much as or more than an in-person one—a 15% uptick from the pre-pandemic period.
Indeed, today, approximately nine in 10 Texans believe that virtual care options should be available to everyone.
So, what does this newfound interest in telehealth mean for healthcare providers?
Untapped opportunities in Texas
One of the major opportunities for virtual health care in Texas lies in untapped market segments, such as providing specialized care in rural communities and triaging care for the uninsured and frequent ER users in urban areas.
Rural Texas is a largely unsaturated market ripe for virtual health expansion, with potential to greatly increase access to quality care and better outcomes while increasing convenience for patients. The fact our study found 20% more rural Texans, compared to the period prior to the pandemic, now trust virtual visits as much as in-person ones shows strong momentum.
Hospitals and physicians are best positioned to lead because, as Accenture’s separate study found, they are the care providers most trusted by patients and can, therefore, leverage their existing brand power to win patient trust and deliver care. And, they don’t need to do it alone. An effective approach to breaking into these markets is to form a new network of partners, especially consisting of community-based organizations and non-traditional vendors, so that, together, they can clearly understand and tailor to patient needs unique to each locale and navigate broadband access challenges.
Similarly, urban areas in Texas, while saturated with telehealth, offer additional opportunities for expansion given the increased consumer interest and patient demand for remote care. Today’s consumers have high expectations, not to mention the growing competition brought on by new entrants from Big Tech to new value-based care models. The key is to identify and cater to the right audiences and offer new levels of convenience that fit patients’ lifestyles, especially as Texans continue to seek options that minimize Covid-19 exposure.
Sustainable future for care at a distance
Leading providers recognize that virtual care represents a viable and valuable approach to the whole patient treatment and journey: taking care of a person’s holistic health, while offering a seamless experience and building a lasting relationship with the patient. Technology is undoubtedly a crucial aspect in realizing that vision, but so is the evolution of the overall business model of health care.
As telehealth becomes an integral part of the care model, health care systems must update their broader organizational strategies and operational capabilities, including taking a targeted, phased approach to implementing remote care and offering necessary training to clinical staff and patients alike. Likewise, improving data sharing and access between their core electronic medical record systems and various telehealth and telemonitoring systems is critical to provide the right type of care in the right setting to meet all of a person’s needs. Customer relationship management solutions will act as a powerful tool to centralize patient information in one system to create a “Patient 360” view to optimize the workflow and increase provider trust.
At the same time, providers must invest in the “digital front door”— user-friendly patient portals that not only integrate telehealth but also reach across the entire continuum of care and engage the patient at every major touch point along their health care journey. The proliferation of everyday tech-enabled solutions, like ride-hailing apps and on-demand streaming services, puts pressure on health care services to offer the same level of convenience and accessibility.
The global pandemic brought a sea change in patient attitudes toward virtual care and, with it, an unexpected opportunity. Winners will be those who learn to ride the momentum and redesign the care to meet the changing consumers where they are.
Editor's note: Mark Olney is a managing director with Accenture’s Health practice. For information, contact Mark Olney.
About the Research
To study the state of virtual health in Texas, Accenture—in collaboration with the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council and the Texas e-Health Alliance—interviewed executives at 13 major health systems in Texas, which together manage hundreds of hospitals across the state, and surveyed 1,000 adults in the state in October/November 2019 and again in May 2020.
