The research reported here was supported by a grant from the California Health Care Foundation. Ateev Mehrotra was also supported by an unrestricted gift to Harvard Medical School by Melvin Hall and CHSi Corporation. The funders had no role in the design or conduct of the study; no role in the collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data; no role in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and no role in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Direct-to-consumer telehealth has seen rapid expansion during the past few years, as it offers significant potential savings for the healthcare industry. The industry is also looking to expand its reach into other areas of healthcare, including home care, which could be a boon in terms of lowering costs. Despite the potential benefits, however, the easier availability of access to healthcare may increase overall spending because of the current unmet demand for treatment. Commercial claims data from 300,000 patients between 2011 to 2013 was examined for patterns of use and expenditure for acute respiratory illnesses, and it was found that 12% of direct-to-consumer telehealth sessions replaced health visits, and 88% were new sessions. Spending increased by $45 per user, indicating that as care becomes more convenient, health care spending may rise as patients enter the healthcare system.