Virtual care provides a modern way to solve some challenges payers face, including how to improve member care and manage rising healthcare costs. Remote monitoring services and other virtual care technologies provide tools that enable payers to enhance the quality of and access to care while minimizing costs simultaneously. The benefits of virtual care to payers can also be of benefit to members.
The expansion of virtual care is what allows insurers and, therefore, their members to gain these benefits. The coronavirus pandemic spurred the growth of these virtual services. They gave people a way to continue to see clinicians while following stay-at-home orders and reducing exposure to COVID-19.
During the pandemic, virtual care especially allowed patients to continue with their regular medical care while they may have otherwise avoided their care due to quarantine, and closed or limited medical services. These needs supported the expansion of virtual care, which was already in place and growing prior to the pandemic.
In addition, the pandemic helped virtual care become more broadly accepted and adopted by everyone from payers and providers to members themselves. Another factor created by the pandemic was looser regulations on the federal and state levels that facilitated the broadening of virtual care. These will mostly stay in place to retain and continue the work that was started. Now, consumer demand continues to push telehealth forward, as patients have become more accustomed to this healthcare option and have come to expect it.
Changes in society and the medical field have now made it easier for payers to start and expand virtual care and remote patient monitoring services. It is worthwhile for insurers to expand their virtual care offerings to continue to meet the needs of their members going forward. Virtual care facilitates higher quality care, better access to care and continuous care, which can all support the benefit of improving member satisfaction. At the same time, virtual care helps to reduce costs. These are all important benefits of telehealth for both payers and members.
The widespread expansion of telehealth makes it easier for insurers to tackle the challenges of adopting virtual care to provide its benefits to members.
Challenges and solutions:
Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) services offer certain benefits. For example, RPM can help payers understand each member’s health care utilization. This facilitates sharing information with members, providing specific recommendations to them and best managing their care. It especially makes it easier for payers to provide preventive care and ongoing care for chronic conditions, which helps improve health, reduce further health problems and cut costs.
Some of the many services a insurer can provide its members include:
AMC Health offers remote patient monitoring services and telecare management that helps rightly combine technology and a human touch for improved care. Payers can gain specific advantages through AMC Health's services.
AMC Health's Virtual Care Benefits:
Overall, payers can gain direct benefits of virtual care and remote patient monitoring that can also benefit their members, improve the user experience, care, and reduce costs. Explore how AMC Health helps payers support the member experience through telehealth services.