During the pandemic, they were heroes. Today, they are apparently superfluous.
In what is becoming a trend in health care, Oregon Health & Science University on Tuesday (July 2) removed a telehealth nursing unit created in March 2020 that was once listed on its website for its service to people across the state.
It’s a microcosm of the changes in how consumers access healthcare in the post-pandemic connected economy, as telehealth trends decline and AI and other virtual technologies take their place alongside the return of in-person doctor visits.
“I think the simplest way to say what we’re seeing right now is that we’re seeing the decline of telehealth 1.0,” Robin Glass, president of virtual care and healthcare navigation company Included Health, told Fierce Healthcare.
“I think that original model, which was based on a highly transactional interaction between a patient and a physician, had no element of longitudinal care or treating that individual as a holistic person, is starting to see the end of the road for that model. It hasn’t served the patient as well as it should,” Glass added. “I also think it doesn’t reflect the modern experience that consumers are becoming accustomed to in every facet of their lives. And ultimately, it doesn’t deliver the kind of value that buyers expect from their healthcare dollars.”
This kind of sentiment has played out in the market, even if not everyone agrees with Glass.
Telehealth as a business model has clearly taken a step backward. Amazon’s pay-per-visit telehealth service and its One Medical program are now one and the same brand after announcing Thursday (June 27) that it will be rebranded as Amazon One Medical Pay-per-visit.
While he didn’t specifically identify the decline in telehealth visits as a driving factor, Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, said “impersonal care” made it difficult for patients to monetize the service.
Similar reasons were given when Walmart shut down its telehealth project on April 30.
However, demonstrating that not everyone has given up on the business model and its future, Walmart has sold the division to health tech startup Fabric.
Fabric, which emerged from the underground in early 2023 after rebranding from Florence, developed technology that automates clinical and administrative tasks in healthcare. The acquisition will significantly expand Fabric’s presence in the employer market. Walmart’s MeMD division provided virtual care services to 30,000 employers and 5 million employees, including large employers, brokers, third-party administrators and distributors.
Fabric offers a telemedicine platform for health systems, employers and payers, with a suite of products designed to streamline workflows for in-person and virtual patient visits. These products range from patient onboarding to provider self-scheduling and documentation tools, leveraging conversational AI to improve the provider and patient experience while increasing operational efficiency, according to company executives.
Technology solutions like those developed by Fabric will most likely define the future of telehealth, as they incorporate AI and even virtual reality. Fabric has been described as a “care support system (that) uses AI-powered clinical intelligence and automation to triage and direct patients to the most appropriate point of care based on time of day, availability, distance, and disposition while streamlining treatment across virtual and in-person workflows.” This hybrid approach leaves room for consumer choice and technological innovation.
One innovation that is expected to gain popularity is holograms. Crescent Regional Hospital near Dallas has launched an innovative technology called “Holobox,” a 3D system that projects a life-size hologram of a doctor for real-time consultations. Developed by Dutch company Holoconnects, the 86-inch-tall device requires only electricity and an internet connection.
The Holobox features anti-reflective glass, a transparent LCD display, hi-fi speakers and a multi-touch operating system. It can display pre-recorded or live videos from doctors, improving patient engagement.
In an interview with a local Dallas television station, Steve Sterling, Holoconnects’ North American general manager, highlighted the system’s ability to revolutionize patient-doctor interactions by providing real-time access to specialists, saving doctors valuable time.
Crescent Regional is the first U.S. hospital to adopt the technology and plans to expand its use in rural and underserved areas. Holoconnects aims to roll out smaller, portable versions to broaden its impact.
