Joining us at Together 2021 to discuss the benefits of virtual-first primary care is Eric Glazer, VP of Product Solutions at Teladoc Health. Teladoc Health focuses on whole-person virtual care, and leverages more than a decade of expertise and data-driven insights to meet the growing virtual care needs of consumers and healthcare professionals. Eric will participate in the panel, “What’s the ‘Next Normal’ of healthcare?” to discuss how a new, redefined approach to primary care fits into the shift to virtual-first healthcare.
Ahead of his session at Together, Eric shared some insights on why now more than ever, virtual primary care is essential to your benefits strategy.
There are barriers to the traditional primary care model
For commercially insured adults between the ages of 18 and 49, the traditional primary care model isn’t meeting their expectations. And COVID-19 has only brought the limitations of the traditional primary care model to light: Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a 42% drop in volume of in-person primary care office visits.
In some proprietary research, Teladoc Health identified four key barriers to this demographic’s use of primary care:
-  Healthcare is associated with sickness – not wellness
- The experience can be time-consuming and inconvenient
- The model doesn’t meet their expectations as consumers
- Healthcare is associated with unpredictable, high costs
The benefits of virtual primary care
Virtual primary care offers key benefits that in-person care isn’t always able to offer: personalization, flexibility, choice, convenience and coordination by a dedicated care team. And the high-quality and convenience create greater adoption, usage and savings. In fact, during Teladoc Health’s internal pilot for Virtual Primary Care, within just 90 days of launch more than 30% of members completed their annual exams.
Virtual primary care serves as an entry point into the greater healthcare ecosystem, which allows your members to receive coordinated care, from wellness and prevention, to more complex healthcare needs. Serving as the quarterback for care, virtual primary care can help develop care plans and refer members to resources both virtual and in-person – leading to whole-person care. This was demonstrated in one of our pilot programs with 10% of participating members referred to Teladoc Health specialists for virtual care and 13% referred to an in-network specialist.
If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of virtual primary care, be sure to save your spot at Together with Collective Health today and attend this session.
