Frost & Sullivan Honors American Well's Telehealth Service for Improving Care Delivery for Patients and Doctors

Based on its ongoing analysis of the telehealth services market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes American Well with the 2014 North American Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year Award for providing a turnkey telehealth service that connects healthcare providers such as hospitals, ambulatory care practices, and other care delivery networks with patients. The company works directly with healthcare payers and employers to bring telehealth solutions to their members/employees.

Download Frost & Sullivan's Review of the 2014 North American Telehealth Services Company of the Year Award fromhttp://info.americanwell.com/frost.

American Well prevailed over its competitors in each of five key assessment areas: growth strategy; implementation; product innovation; customer value; and market penetration. The company's telehealth platform connects physicians with more than 100 million individuals over the web, mobile devices, and retail kiosks, across 44 states and the District of Columbia. Individuals whose insurance does not cover telehealth services can still see a doctor online for a nominal fee.

"Video telemedicine is one of the top areas in telehealth that can enable positive transformation impact in healthcare delivery," said Frost & Sullivan Connected Health Global Research Director Daniel Ruppar (@DanielRuppar). "American Well is a leader in video telehealth services, with their platform solution providing services to a broad array of care providers and health plans."

Going forward, the proliferation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) is likely to augment new business opportunities for American Well. From an ACO's perspective, American Well's platform enables it to make a positive impact on patient outcomes, expanding its revenue base through access to new/more patients, while simultaneously providing for an efficient patient care mechanism.

American Well backs up its solid growth strategy with excellent implementation. American Well achieves deep market penetration by serving healthcare delivery systems, major employers, and payers – as well as by making care delivery easier and more cost effective for both patients and providers. With the launch of its telehealth kiosks in Q4 of 2013, American Well is looking to bring care into new settings, such as retail centers and employer onsite clinics.  As patient care services are shifting away from hospitals and toward the home, American Well's mobile apps, also launched in late 2013, help patients experience care in the best environment possible—their communities.

American Well boasts a distinct advantage over its competition because it combines a robust software platform with a national network of care providers/physicians. The innovative platform technology incorporates a number of resources for communication between physicians, patients and insurers, reducing the need for costly integration infrastructures and additional technologies. This solution streamlines overall care delivery by not only proving to be an effective clinical tool for patient encounters, but also a reliable system for administrative functions in payment processing, claims/eligibility management, advanced analytics and reporting. The platform's end-to-end reach covering the entire patient encounter is a huge win for the patient-customer, bringing simplicity to a normally stressful, ambiguous process. American Well's ability to enhance healthcare delivery at price points well below today's in-office patient visit gives the company a competitive advantage in future market penetration.

The platform's innovation in simplifying the administrative registration process places it above other companies in technological competence. It effectively integrates patient medical history with payer information to unify the care delivery process. In addition, it provides predictive modeling capabilities that further assist physicians with patient diagnosis as well as potential treatment recommendations.

Furthermore, American Well's platform outperforms competitors in customer value by uniquely delivering a holistic patient experience that involves both diagnosis and treatment, and typically costs just $49 per visit if not covered by an individual's insurance. From a healthcare providers' standpoint, the platform offers a range of new revenue growth opportunities without the need for investments in new, intricate IT systems. It also performs various administrative functions, including payment processing, payer management, dynamic pricing options, and advanced reporting and analytics.

"American Well's telehealth platform enables next-generation delivery of healthcare at a fraction of the cost associated with establishing, operating, and managing traditional care delivery networks," noted Ruppar. "It is due to this reason that the company continues to enjoy the highest acceptance among its peers across all key healthcare constituents—patients, physicians, payers, and employers."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.