It’s Telehealth Awareness Week, a great time to examine the future of healthcare delivery in America. And with open enrollment approaching, it’s also a perfect time for employee benefits leaders to ask, “what can we do to make healthcare more affordable, accessible and equitable for our employees?”

The past few years have shown that telehealth can deliver value differently from traditional care. 

Patients learned first hand that telemedicine doctors can provide quality care when others cannot, especially during times when people weren’t ready or able to visit brick & mortar doctors offices, urgent care, or other facilities.  

We learned what works when virtual primary care is delivered:

• On demand, at a pace and cadence that patients dictate

• Seamlessly through multi-specialty doctors who can address everything from women’s health to telemental health , to chronic condition management
• Equitably to every zip code, including rural communities lacking broadband
• In a modality that works for everybody, including deskless workers, who face unique challenges in scheduling and work environment 
• Provides the highest clinical quality and proven outcomes, so employers, health plans and patients, feel confidence in care received

As telemedicine platforms evolve, and with the needs of patients squarely center stage, some of the early challenges of telehealth have been addressed including:

• Patients needing to preselect their care path -- problematic because it requires self-diagnosis
• A set schedule and a quiet, private space for phone or video-based encounters
• Separate fee for every care encounter
• Long on-ramp to an actual doctor, with virtual waiting rooms, long form-fills and unsatisfying bot-based encounters.

We’ve found that telehealth awareness is followed swiftly by telehealth appreciation for those who use CirrusMD. Telehealth makes a difference in patients’ lives, and they frequently share their praise with our doctors:

As we recognize Telehealth Awareness Week, let’s focus on what matters most: patient care.  Telehealth reaches the patients often left behind in terms of access to high quality and affordable care. Well-delivered telehealth can be the great equalizer for all, bringing care to those traditionally underserved by healthcare.