Telehealth's crossroads will dictate whether access to care is widened

Nearly six months after a worldwide public health emergency triggered by COVID-19 ended, telehealth is at a pivotal crossroads. Scores of U.S. employers have been more aggressive about luring people back to the office amid cold and flu season and periodic outbreaks of the virus, while policymakers continue to debate whether restrictions on this type of care should be readjusted to pre-pandemic levels. 

While it's unclear whether these developing stories will significantly slow utilization, telehealth was one of several post-pandemic silver linings, the positive effects of which are expected to last for years to come. 

This is the third of a four-part series of articles on how the employee populations that benefit advisers serve are benefiting from products and services that have been spotlighted since 2020. We previously examined the rise of voluntary benefits relative to core offerings and efforts to achieve parity for behavioral health benefits. 

Read more: Innovation is a driving force behind mental health parity

Telehealth has proven to be not only user-friendly and efficient, but also affordable and private. It started gaining traction before the pandemic, which likely accelerated its growth timeline by about five to seven years. Virtual visits became part of a cultural change that saw more everyday interactions move online, including an explosion in video conferencing. 

It's now a permanent part of the HR and benefits toolkit and will be invaluable in the event that another deadly disease strikes. Even for employers that prefer their employees work in the office more often than not, the larger point about telehealth is to widen employee's access to healthcare without sacrificing too much of their time during the workday. I've seen some organizations set aside dedicated phone rooms for their employees to make private phone calls with providers rather than having to go do it from their car or actually drive to an in-person appointment and wait in a room for an unknown amount of time. 

With many diseases running rampant in Q4, telehealth represents an opportunity to reduce the risk of exposure to many common colds and the flu. While not a silver bullet, it can help prevent more serious issues from developing down the road. Telehealth also removes a lot of fear and ambivalence about seeing doctors in person from the healthcare equation.

In addition, the virtual model enables brick-and-mortar facilities and providers to mine operational efficiencies and be better prepared for in-person visits, as well as reduce the number of walk-ins. We envision a deepening of those synergies moving forward. The fact is, there has to be a seamless flow of information and connectivity among all healthcare professionals in doctor offices and hospital systems to help manage patient loads. 

Read more: How voluntary benefits help to expect the unexpected

Telehealth revolutionized the delivery of acute care, and now it is doing the same for treating mental illness, closing a major gap in such care as it broadens access to more services. We're not that many decades or years removed from a time when people were very stoic about their physical and mental health, and reluctant to reveal that anything was wrong, especially for behavioral health. 

There's value in every potential way that the stigma associated with seeking mental health care can be removed. Telehealth eliminates worries about patients being seen walking into a building of psychotherapists or waiting room where strangers might overhear what they're sharing. They can be treated from the comfort of their own home or a location of their choosing without feeling anxious about awkward social encounters, which helps them receive the care that they need. 

Avoiding a drive to the therapist's office not only helps reduce tardiness and absenteeism, but also presenteeism. Those who worry about the time taken away from their job may tend not to seek treatment and stay mired in distractions, which naturally will lower productivity. Telehealth eliminates these outcomes by saving time, not to mention money because the scalable care is more affordable than in-person sessions. But best of all where mental health is concerned, it offers more meaningful protection of patient privacy. 

Read more: What's really driving employer healthcare costs

Another advantage of virtual visits for any kind of care is that they offer a better triage approach to quickly determine whether or not a diagnostic assessment can be made over the phone or imaging tests can be performed in the patient's home where a specimen also may be collected. In other cases, a board certified physician on the other end of a telehealth call may decide that an in-person visit is needed for primary care, urgent care or a trip to the hospital ER. 

Whatever the future holds, we can expect to see a steady increase in the adoption of telehealth, as well as greater connectivity and interaction between telehealth providers and brick-and-mortar locations. It may not necessarily meet or exceed the number of in-person visits, but virtual care will continue to play a vital role in our healthcare ecosystem.

Lawmakers and policymakers are well aware of this, though it's anyone's guess whether the pre-pandemic restrictions that were loosened over the past three years will stay that way. Sixty U.S. senators reintroduced in June the CONNECT for Health Act in hopes of permanently removing geographic restrictions on telehealth services and allowing patients to use services from their homes. The legislation, which has generated rare bipartisan support, also would pave the way for health centers to offer telehealth, which could help fill care gaps in rural areas.

Read more: Mitigate inflationary impacts and protect families with voluntary benefits

One major concern that has been voiced involves security breaches involving personally identifiable information given the current state of technology and rise of social media. A person's medical information may be more valuable on the black market than their financial information. So having a set of standards for security around telehealth is of utmost importance so that this information isn't compromised in any way. 

Government officials need to be better educated so that they fully understand the value of telehealth, how it connects so many complex moving parts of healthcare and helps provide better outcomes for working Americans – issues that need to be balanced against consumer protections.