Maple Anticipated the Decline in Telehealth and Expects to Continue Growing

Maple is a Canadian healthcare success story. Founded in 2015, the company has grown steadily and is now the country’s largest online network of doctors. They offer both virtual care services as well as a virtual care platform. The company experienced the meteoric rise in usage during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent decline, but unlike other telehealth providers, they expected this and planned for it. The company expects to continue growing in the years ahead. Healthcare IT Today sat down with Brett Belchetz, MD – Co-Founder & CEO of Maple to get his take on the current state of telehealth, where it can be used most effectively, and what’s next for his company. A Return to More Normal Usage and Growth Belchetz is optimistic about the future of telehealth, but expects there to be short-term pain. “What we saw in April 2020 in Canada was 70% of all medical visits were done virtually,” stated Belchetz. “Two months prior to the pandemic, it was less than 1%. Anyone who thought going forward we would continue to see 70% usage was not being realistic.” According to Belchetz, any company that built their businesses on the peak-telehealth usage patterns during the pandemic will struggle now that usage is returning to a more realistic level. He believes that eventually 50% of all medical visits will be done virtually and that the remainder will require an in-person visit. Between now and then, some telehealth companies will struggle with the lower usage and ...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Ambulatory Clinical Healthcare IT Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring COVID-19 Dr. Brett Belchetz getmaple sexual health Telehealth Telehealth Adoption Telehealth Market Share telehealth usage Virtual Care Source Type: blogs