Today, Americans can access healthcare in a variety of ways. Gone are the days when healthcare only happened in the hospital or a doctor’s office. New (or newly popular) methods of healthcare delivery are meeting patients where they’re at for maximum accessibility. Emerging delivery channels for healthcare include homecare, urgent care centers, telemedicine, and concierge care.
Historically, it was the norm for caregivers to visit sick patients at their home. Today, homecare agencies are bringing that model back. Elderly and disabled patients benefit the most from homecare because they struggle to get transportation to appointments. Unfortunately, many agencies don’t have enough staff to serve the market’s needs. Nearly half of all agencies were cutting back on initiatives to address staffing shortages. Turnover among home health aides is 64%, far higher than the rest of the labor market.
Meanwhile, urgent care centers have expanded with ease. In the past year alone, the urgent care market grew 16.4% in America. Urgent care centers today treat a growing share of sports and accidents injuries, something emergency rooms once did. Benefits of urgent care centers include relative affordability, transparency, and accessibility.
Among younger generations especially, telemedicine provides more healthcare accessibility than ever. Remote monitoring allows a wider variety of doctor visits to take place over the internet. 91% of the time, telehealth delivers the same or better results as in person doctor visits. Remaining challenges include regulatory questions, security concerns, and a potential lack of digital literacy on both ends of the line.
Finally, concierge healthcare is a private form of practice with an alternate pay structure. Patients pay an out-of-pocket retainer fee instead of relying on insurance. Right now, the concierge medicine market sits at $6.1 billion. Concierge care offers convenience and customized care to those able to afford the service.
