World was on hold during the coronavirus pandemic and it led to the rise of the Telehealth industry. During the coronavirus pandemic, all hospitals were filled and healthcare staff were piled under the pressure of patient recovery. Along with that postponement and cancellation of elective surgeries led to the rise in the need for physicians to adopt telehealth to connect with patients. Social distancing has become a part of our culture and people are more comfortable with teleconsulting and digital health tracking, the demand for remote consultancy is at its peak. Telehealth played a key role during the coronavirus pandemic. Almost all virtual visit service providers witnessed a drastic rise after COVID-19. One such example to support such an argument is Teladoc Health Inc, which experienced a 60% rise in demand for teleconsultation reaching the 2 million mark between the period of January 2020 to March 2020 in comparison to their 2019 quarter.
Private individuals, as well as government bodies, have been very positive toward telemedicine and supported this change by promoting policies and reimbursement guidelines. Additionally, governments around the world supported telemedicine campaigns and promoted it to facilitate better services and treatment. Following are the examples of government initiatives:
The global market for telemedicine stood at USD 49.9 billion in 2019. The impact of coronavirus has been beyond expectations on this sector with the global market reaching USD 194.1 billion in 2023. The market is forecasted to reach USD 459.8 billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 12.8% between 2023-2030. While the Covid period witnessed a drastic rise in CAGR, forthcoming years might not be capable of matching those numbers due to market demand and growth along with the world returning to a normal routine.
The leading players in this market are as follows
Teladoc Health stood on top in terms of revenue earned in 2019. A humongous customer and user base, carefully planned collaboration, and a strong GPs and specialists’ network are the major reason for its leading position. American Well and Global Med also held a good position in the market. It won’t be surprising to witness a change in market dynamics with rising investment and new business models of startups entering the market and raising the competition levels.
Market Dynamics
Rising Factors:
Reduced burden and Technological expected to push the growth
Rising chronic diseases have directly resulted in humongous healthcare costs. The adoption of telemedicine reduced service costs significantly as it offers more economical services along with less work pressure and healthcare workers. With the constant advancement in technology concepts like telehealth and virtual hospitals are appearing to be more lucrative. Apps based on machine learning are helping people learn about their bodily functions and advising them on what shall be done. Ai can enhance the future technology of the telemedicine sector.
Threats
Opportunity
Market segmentation
By Application:
By End-User:
By Mode of delivery:
Telemedicine provides solutions to a variety of diseases and it can be segmented on different types of services they offer. The patient segment dominated the telemedicine market with the largest revenue share of 43.6% in 2020. The payers' section majorly compromises insurance companies that pay telemedicine service providers on the account of patients.
North America led the market growth followed by Europe
North America is expected to dominate the market as it is a hub of leading players such as Teladoc and MDLive. Moreover, these players receive positive immense support from the government. North American government is highly supporting telehealth services and thus the sector has been witnessing growth. Europe is the second largest market owing to an increasing surge in new diseases in the last few years which caused a massive burden on healthcare expenses.
Conclusion
Telehealth/Telemedicine sector was witnessing a slow upwards trajectory till 2019 but the outbreak of the pandemic has brought in a boom period for the sector. It witnessed massive growth post-2019 with growing technological innovations and increasing cases of chronic diseases. Multiple governments have been favouring this sector as it helps in reducing the healthcare burden. North America has been the largest market due to the presence of global players and stringent support from the government while Europe is witnessing growth owing to rising chronic diseases.