Dive Brief:
- A new report from Parks Associates says that the number of US households using videoconferencing for doctor consults should hit 22.6 million in 2018. That's up from 900,000 in 2013.
- Consumers most likely to use such virtual health tools are between ages 18 and 34 and have annual household incomes of $50,000 or more, according to the report.
- Of the 72% of households that did not use online healthcare communications tools by the third quarter of 2013, 51% reported being comfortable with the concept of doing so.
Dive Insight:
If the Parks Associates data is to be believed, we're on the verge of an explosion of online communication between doctors and patients. And their data make sense. All of the parts are in place by this point -- the near-universal use of broadband connections in homes, video communications capabilities in smart phones, tablets with video communications features and more. I believe their target number of 22.6 million users in 2018 may even turn out to be an underestimate.