On-demand care market set to explode

U.S. funding for on-demand healthcare companies, those providing location-based offerings with near-real-time and 24/7 services, will quadruple from over $200 million in 2014 to $1 billion by the end of 2017, according to Accenture.

“On-demand healthcare is fundamentally changing—and enriching—the doctor-patient relationship, making the physician much more accessible to patients while simultaneously reducing costs,” said Kaveh Safavi, MD, JD, senior managing director for Accenture's global health business. “With no end to this type of investment in sight, there’s an enormous opportunity for companies to offer fast, convenient and customized user-experiences that ultimately improve the patient experience and outcomes.”

Aside from the transportation industry, healthcare is the fastest growing on-demand sector, representing one-fifth of total U.S. funding. The number of on-demand health companies has spiked from four in 2010, to 42 in 2014, with annual investment growing at an annual rate of 224 percent over the same period. Funding for primary-care services alone has totaled more than $639 million since 2010. Within the same timeframe, on-demand specialty care, behavioral health, wellness and veterinary companies received a total of roughly $68 million in U.S. funding.
 
The following are factors driving the interest and investment in on-demand healthcare, according to Accenture:

• Government support: Large payers are now reimbursing virtual doctor’s appointments, with government backing. Twenty-nine states have telehealth parity laws, up from 20 in 2014.
• Economics: On-demand virtual visits are less expensive for consumers: up to 40 percent less expensive for primary care, 28 percent less expensive for urgent care and 3 to 7 percent less expensive for emergency room visits.
• Technology maturation: The growing number of mobile users will lead to growing demand for mobile health services.
• Cultural adoption: Expectations for seamless, coordinated services are not limited to young adults—more than half (57 percent) of seniors also are interested in digital health options.
• Plan design: Payers want to create best-in-class benefits packages with new products and services that will attract and retain members, so they will look to on-demand services to make them stand out.

“Investment in on-demand healthcare and collaboration between industries will ultimately precipitate a shift away from a goods and services model to a ‘life care’ model, providing patients with personalized services that addresses a multitude of daily needs,” Safavi said.