Report: Virtual health can help manage looming PCP shortage

Virtual health tools could save nearly $10 billion each year, according to a report from Accenture.

The savings come at a time when trends indicate a coming shortage of primary care physicians. The American Association of Medical Colleges says the U.S. could be short by as many as 31,000 primary care physicians (PCPs) by 2025. Wages make up more than half of the U.S. annual healthcare spend.

Accenture's report says combining virtual health tools with traditional patient care models can offset those clinician costs and availability.

Virtual health combines clinical care and professional collaboration using telemedicine and collaboration at a distance to connect clinicians, patients, care teams and health professionals to provide health services, support patient self-management and coordinate care. 

"By shifting some work to patients, replacing labor with technology and automating tasks, virtual health can streamline clinician work, decrease demand for PCPs and focus clinician time in areas where their training and experience have the greatest value," according to the report.

Using virtual health tools in ambulatory patient settings could save each PCP an average of five minutes per encounter for a total savings of more than $7 billion annually for the U.S. healthcare system.

If each patient seeking treatment for hypertension had one in-person annual physical with half of the remaining hypertension-focused physician encounters converted to telehealth visits, the time savings would be equal to about 1,500 PCPs, about 1 percent of the PCP workforce, and annual savings of $300 million, according to the report.

If each patient seeking treatment for diabetes used virtual health tools, the time savings would be equal to about 24,000 PCPs, 11 percent of the PCP workforce, and annual savings of nearly $2 billion.

"The industry as a whole, as well as individual organizations, must act now to integrate virtual health models into their everyday clinical practice. Only then will healthcare begin to address the looming cost and labor crises impacting the industry at national and organizational levels," the report concludes.