Telehealth News Recap - Feb 2024
Keeping up with the latest news in the virtual care space is challenging. Wheel's Virtual Care News is a monthly newsletter for stakeholders in the digital health industry. As a subscriber, you'll receive timely information on trending news, regulatory updates, engaging conversations, and key innovations emerging in the space
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Explore the latest trends, insights, and innovations in February's Virtual Care News roundup.
As always, we've got you covered with the latest scoop in payer, retailer, provider, and health tech news. Here are the highlights:
- 🚀 Register for Wheel's webinar, now featuring Amazon Clinic GM/CMO, Nworah Ayogu, on Feb. 13
- 💸 Learn the massive impact that investment in women's health can have on the global economy in McKinsey's latest report
- ⚖️ Discover how innovative 2023's state telehealth policies and laws were by exploring Cicero Institute's third annual telehealth innovation report.
Wishing you a lovely February! 💖
Read time: 6 minutes
🛞 Wheel News
Wheel Webinar: 2024 Virtual Care Trends Revealed - Insights from 1 Million Patient Visits
Join Wheel for our first digital event of the year with special guest, Dr. Nworah Ayogu, GM & Chief Medical Officer at Amazon Clinic. We’ll be discussing virtual care trends and predictions for the year ahead based on data from over 1 million patient visits on the Wheel platform in 2023. This live event will take place Tuesday, Feb. 13 @ 1 pm CST, and an on-demand recording will be available to all registrants afterward. Space is limited, so reserve your spot today!
Gearing Up For ViVE 2024
We're just a few weeks away from the premier event for digital health, ViVE 2024, in Los Angeles! As a reminder, we'll be there at booth #2445. Meet with our team to learn how you can power the future of care with Wheel.
📊Trends & Insights
Closing the Women’s Health Gap: A $1 Trillion Opportunity to Improve Lives and Economies
Women’s health was the focal point of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the first-ever report on the gender health gap and its health and economic toll was presented. The report, authored by McKinsey Health Institute, quantifies the massive impact of underinvestment in women’s health — which currently equates to 75 million years of life lost due to poor health or early death — and found that addressing the gap could boost the global economy by at least $1 trillion annually by 2040.
The presentation was followed by the announcement of the Global Alliance of Women’s Health, a cross-sector coalition dedicated to increasing investment in women’s health and spreading awareness of the issue on a global scale.
"On this topic, where the partnership is key to impact, you could argue that the most important part of the report is the acknowledgment of over 100 collaborators involved," says Lucy Perez, a McKinsey Senior Partner and lead author on the report. "And this number will undoubtedly continue to grow."
Full report via McKinsey Health Institute
Medscape Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2024
Medscape’s 2024 survey on physician burnout and depression revealed slight declines in rates among U.S. doctors. 49% of physicians reported they feel burned out, and 20% said they were depressed. In 2023, the rates were 53% and 23% respectively. So, while this is an encouraging signal of progress, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Here are some other key takeaways from the report:
- 83% of doctors cited professional stress as the primary reason for burnout and/or depression
- The top three reasons cited for burnout are the number of work-related bureaucratic tasks (62%), spending too many hours at work (41%), and lack of respect from administrators, employers, and coworkers (40%)
- 48% of the physicians surveyed felt their employers do not recognize the pervasiveness of burnout among medical staff
Full report via Medscape (requires free email registration to view)
JPM24: Top Trends for Payers, Providers, and Health Tech Companies to Watch
The 2024 conference circuit started off strong with the JPM conference in San Francisco and covered major topics in the provider, payer, and digital health industries over four days. This article from FierceHealthcare summarizes the conference's main themes, including nonprofit systems' focus on payvider structures, concerns over MA star ratings, and healthcare's AI roadmap. Catch up on everything you need to know from JPM24.
🤔 First Opinions & Engaging Conversations
The Rise of Retail Health and Non-Traditional Players
Retail health and non-traditional players made massive waves in the healthcare space last year, and this momentum is bound to drive major shifts in how patients access care in 2024 and beyond. In this Hospitalogy deep dive, Blake Madden provides a comprehensive review of the healthcare strategies behind a few of the major players (Amazon, Best Buy, Walgreens, Walmart, DGX, and more). Discover the nuanced approach each player is taking and get a glimpse of what retail health 2.0 can bring this year.
Article via Blake Madden & Hospitalogy
Consumer Health In 2024: ‘Switch Power,’ ‘Reframing Sustainability’ And Meeting Household Budgets
To gain valuable insights into the future of the consumer health industry, HBW Insight reached out to consumer health business leaders, consultants, attorneys, investors, and other stakeholders and asked them to finish this prompt, “2024 will be the year of…” Answers included:
- Health empowerment
- Significant transformation of consumer healthcare
- Switch power
- Self-care for mental health
Check out the full article to learn more about the challenges and opportunities facing consumer health this year.
Article via HBW Insight
⚖️ Policy & Regulatory Updates
50-State Telehealth Report Shows Slowing Reform Progress: But Idaho, Louisiana & Utah Stand Out
A newly released 50-state telehealth innovation report from Cicero Institute captures innovation-minded telehealth policy changes that took place in 2023. Overall, the report found that telehealth bills filed in 2023 did very little to drive innovation, but instead stuck to the status quo of narrow coverage expansions and payment mandates.
However, three states, Idaho, Louisiana, and Utah, stood out and should be recognized for their progressive work in increasing access to care for their state via cross-state legislation. Research has shown that providing telehealth services across state lines has few concerns. Considering the current state of limited access to healthcare, it would be wise for lawmakers to follow the lead of states that are innovating telehealth and establish more legal frameworks to support it.
Full report via The Cicero Institute
✨ Growth & Innovation
21 Payers' Growth Strategies for 2024
Curious about how payers are planning to grow their organizations this year? Becker's spoke with 21 leaders at payer organizations to learn more about how they are planning to grow their value-based models, improve health equity, implement new technology, and more in this article.
Article via Becker's Healthcare
Digital Obesity Care Offerings Mapped
Eli Lilly and Company, Mayo Clinic, and Transcarent each launched virtual weight management offerings, all powered by digital health partnerships. However, the operational nuances of each are unique. To help understand each organization's approach, Rock Health put together this visual overview of each company’s enablement structure.
LinkedIn Post from Rock Health
