One major trend, that I see many others have talked about, is the rise of telehealth! It is something I
have talked to many of my friends and colleagues about. There have been many pros and cons and of
course many implications affecting financial planning. One thing, unrelated to financial planning that
I often worry about is quality of assessment. For a short burst during the pandemic there was the
inability to get in-person appointments unless urgent. For physical symptoms and concerns there was
a lack of ability to do physical assessments, where many healthcare professionals had to get creative.
It was rather interesting to see the ways they were able to get needed assessments done! I am
interested if any of you had experience with the same? d Anyway, on to the important topic at hand!
d d d d d To begin with, telehealth has been estimated to save on average of 120 dollars per virtual
visit compared to an in person visit (Snoswell et al., 2020). This includes time in the office, supplies
used, and so on. However, it also saves the patient money. Take for example the money saved on
traveling to an office, and possibility of not needing to take time off of work to attend doctor visits.
During COVID it also may have saved quite a few people from being exposed to diseases
unnecessarily by not having to share small spaces in doctor’s offices! Which may have saved many
follow up or hospital visits. Short appointments, such as appointments needed to help refill
prescriptions and address symptoms since last visit become more efficient financially and physically
for both professionals and patients. Allowing more time with other patients.
One benefit seen is persons may be more willing to see or meet with healthcare professionals through
tele-health visits. There are people who may be anxious going to an in-person doctor’s office. By
offering healthcare to come to them, and having the ability for them to meet in what they deem a
‘comfortable space’ many may become less anxious and more willing to go to doctor’s appointments.
This helped create a greater draw of patients to healthcare clinics. Financially it may help create more
jobs to meet the need, but also a greater profit for clinics.
d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d Next, telehealth needs to have up to date technology to offer the proper care to its patients.
Healthcare offices must have strong internet connection and available up to date electronics to
connect with its patients. The cost of updating technology and the services needed to run it can cost
anywhere up to 15,000-150,000 dollars for companies, depending on size, population served and so
on (Horiachko, 2022). This cost, although steep, may help clinics or healthcare agencies save money
in the long run if they deem the service needed.
One final implication that telehealth has on financial planning is the security of the
information. Aside from just up to date internet and technology, healthcare companies must have a
plan and adequate coverage for the potential of hackers stealing confidential information. It was
found on average that in 2020 data breach’s cost healthcare companies $7.13 million (Landi, 2020).
Most of the information stolen was personal identifiable information, which was also the costliest for
businesses (Landi, 2020). It is possible to buy systems which help work to protect these threats, and
they were able to find a savings difference of nearly three million dollars for companies that had it in
place (Landi, 2020).
Overall, I believe there is a bright and needed future for telehealth, and the pros and cons
regarding its financial planning weight must be measured. For many clinics telehealth has created
positive opportunities and allowed for growth and savings. Hopefully it continues to grow.
The trend of racial and ethnic differences in self-reported health status, access, and affordability
among US adults has changed over the past two decades, or has it? A study by Mahajan et al (2021)
says "Between 1999 and 2018, some estimated racial and ethnic differences in measures of self-
reported health status and health care access improved, but many differences persisted". This trend
has three implications for financial planning within healthcare organizations like hospitals.
The first implication is the increased cost to hospitals due to the amount of care required. In the study
mentioned above the reported rate of poor or fair health status was 14.3% among Black individuals in
1999. The reported poor health status among Black individuals was still 14.2% showing no
significant change (Mahajan et al., 2021). So patients with poorer health and lower income will
require more care and the care will have to be covered by the hospital/ insurance.
The second implication is the amount of hospital beds and staff available. With more patients that are
requiring care this means that there will need to be more hospital beds and hospital staff to take care
of the patients. This is another cost to the hospital that would need to be considered in the financial
planning.
The third implication that this trend has is that hospitals will need to plan to be more accessible to this
population. The lack of health insurance was 14.4% in 1999 and in 2018 is decreased significantly.
(Mahajan et al., 2021). With access to health insurance individuals will be more likely to seek care
but may not have a usual source of care. Still healthcare costs are too high and effect low income
Black individuals. "Black and White individuals with low income had the highest estimated rates of
foregone or delayed care due to cost 21.0%" (Mahajan et al., 2021). Hospitals will need to be more
accessible to this population to provide a usual source of care that is affordable.
References d d d d d d d d d d d d
Horiachko, A. (2022, April 11). Cost of telemedicine app: Is it a worthy investment? Softermii.
https://www.softermii.com/blog/cost-of-telemedicine
Landi, H. (2020, July 29). Average cost of healthcare data breach rises to $7.1m, according to IBM
report. Fierce Healthcare. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/average-cost-healthcare-data-
breach-rises-to-7-1m-according-to-ibm-report
Snoswell C, Taylor M, Comans T, Smith A, Gray L, Caffery L.. (2020). Determining if Telehealth
Can Reduce Health System Costs: Scoping Review. J Med Internet Res; 22(10):e17298
https://www.jmir.org/2020/10/e17298 d d DOI: 10.2196/17298
