Telehealth News Recap - October 2022
It can be tough to keep up with the latest news in the virtual care space. 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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What's new in virtual care? This month we’re sharing news on Instacart’s promising entrance into the healthcare arena, a useful digital health enablement stack market map from Sapphire Ventures, a groundbreaking study on telehealth quality from JAMA, and more!
Trends & Insights
Instacart Launches Instacart Health, a Sweeping New Initiative to Deliver the Ingredients for Healthier Living
Last month, leading North American grocery technology company, Instacart, announced Instacart Health - an expansive initiative aimed at using new products, strategic partnerships, research initiatives, and policy advocacy to increase access to nutritious food options and expand the role of food in improving healthcare outcomes. The launch underscores an emerging trend of private sector companies stepping up in innovative ways to support public sector companies at the intersection of food and health.
First Opinions & Engaging Conversations
Rise of the Digital Health Enablement Stack: How Technology is Accelerating Innovation for Modern Care Delivery
As the digital health ecosystem continues to mature, we are seeing an explosion of specialized third-party tech vendors transforming the internal and backend process for healthcare organizations. Sapphire Ventures shared a comprehensive overview featuring a useful market map of the digital health enablement stack. The accompanying article outlines the key factors driving the growth of these vertically-focused companies and explains how they are accelerating innovation across care delivery.
Sapphire Ventures Perspectives >
Solving Healthcare’s Last Mile Problem: 3 Ways to Better Reach Patients
How can providers and digital health companies close the last mile gap in healthcare to patients who still struggle to access care? Three healthcare innovators, Max Cohen, CEO and co-founder of Sprinter Health; Cyril Philip, Vice President of Digital Ventures at Bon Secours Mercy Health; and Zachary Clark, Head of Growth at Uber Health, discussed this question during a panel at MedCity’s Invest Digital Health conference last month.
Here’s what they agreed we can do to have a meaningful impact on patient access:
Actually commit to value-based care
Prioritize innovation even when times are tough
Engage patients beyond their episodic care needs
Growth & Innovation
Study: Telehealth Better Than In-Person Visits on Some Quality Measures
A retrospective study of more than 500K patients published in JAMA Network Open revealed that exposure to telemedicine was associated with similar or significantly better care quality performance on a number of measures.
For all counseling and testing-based measures — including vaccinations, cardiovascular disease and diabetes testing, and screenings for depression and cancer — telehealth care encounters were more likely to meet HEDIS quality benchmarks than solely in-person patients.
This study supports telemedicine’s value potential for augmenting care and identifies a need to further define the optimal blend of telemedicine and in-office care.
Q3 2022 Digital Health Funding: The Market Isn’t the Same as It Was
Predictions of digital health’s market cooldown came to light last quarter as Rock Health reports the lowest funding numbers in digital health since Q4 2019. But even though funding isn’t what it used to be, Q3 featured some major acquisitions (Amazon, CVS) and the year’s first digital health market public exit (Akili's SPAC close). In this article, Rock Health summarizes everything you need to know about digital health funding last quarter and offers key predictions to be aware of going into Q4 and 2023.
Wheel News
Are You Attending HLTH in Las Vegas Next Month?
We’re excited to be returning to HLTH, healthcare’s #1 innovation event, next month in Las Vegas. Our team is looking forward to connecting with leaders across the industry to discuss the future of virtual care. If you’re attending, schedule a meeting or drop by our booth #3441 to learn more about how our white-labeled virtual care platform can power your business.
What is Asynchronous Telehealth?
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Asynchronous care has become a critical part of health care delivery. Wheel’s Deputy General Council, Cecily Harris, joined other experts in a panel hosted by ATA last month to discuss all things async. Panelists break down the basics of asynchronous telehealth, review example use cases, discuss discrepancies in state regulations around async care, and share the overall advantages of async technology for patients, consumers, and providers. |
Deep Dive: How to Achieve Profitability in Virtual Care
In an industry as fragmented, regulated, and slow-changing as healthcare, many companies struggle to unlock the ROI and achieve profitability in telehealth. So when our proprietary data revealed a client had saved more than $1.2 million on clinician staffing expenses just seven months after partnering with us, our team decided to investigate. To help us all move healthcare forward faster, we’re sharing these insights into telehealth profitability with our industry colleagues.
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At Wheel, we believe healthcare will move forward when we amplify the impact of virtual care for more patients. Find out how Wheel can help launch, scale, and sustain your telehealth business.