Has Virtual Healthcare Lived up to its Pandemic Promises?

It has been five years since a once-in-a-century pandemic upended the U.S. healthcare system. With in-person care severely restricted amid COVID-19 waves, healthcare providers and payers had to pivot, pushing care out of traditional brick-and-mortar facilities. Virtual healthcare significantly benefited from this shift; however, the headwinds pushing virtual care utilization have died down as in-person care resumed. Numerous reports and surveys have charted the rise and fall of virtual healthcare relative to the pandemic's peak. Telehealth visit volumes dropped by 45.8% from 76.6 million visits in the second quarter of 2020 to 41.5 million visits in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to data from market research firm Trilliant Health.