A few months ago, we wrote an article about how the coronavirus pandemic has supercharged the use of telemedicine. Last week, Doximity published the 2020 State of Telemedicine Report, which estimates that more than 20% of all medical visits in 2020 will be conducted by telemedicine. That represents $29.3 billion of medical services. 

"Physicians have found telemedicine has served as a vital lifeline for practices negatively impacted financially by the pandemic. In our view, the rapid uptake of telemedicine has important structural implications for the U.S. healthcare system," Christopher Whaley, Ph.D., lead author of the report and assistant adjunct professor at the University of California's Berkeley School of Public Health, said in a prepared statement.

Doximity’s telemedicine report will help you, as physician recruiters, understand the shift to virtual care as you discuss telehealth opportunities with candidates. Here are a few highlights from the report, which you can download in its entirety here.

1. Female physicians are 24% more interested in telemedicine job opportunities than their male colleagues. 
2. Telemedicine will replace many emergency department visits and play a more prominent role in home healthcare support.
3. The top two specialties using telemedicine are endocrinology and rheumatology. Treating long-term chronic conditions like diabetes and arthritis requires frequent patient visits, but they don’t always need to be in-person. Telemedicine can reduce taxing trips to hospitals or clinics.
4. The number of physicians who self-reported telemedicine as a skill has increased to 38% between 2019 and 2020. Between 2015 and 2018, it was rising by 20% year over year.
5. More than 25% of survey respondents reported feeling telemedicine visits have the same or better quality than in-person visits. In contrast, over 50% of the respondents with chronic conditions reported telemedicine visits to have the same or better quality than in-person visits.

The adoption of telemedicine by physicians and patients continues to rise due to clear benefits: it’s easier to use, it provides more flexibility, and it offers a lower cost of care. Doximity researchers also predict that up to $106 billion of current U.S. healthcare dollars could be spent on virtual care by 2023. To learn more about how the new Doximity Video Dialer became one of the most used telemedicine tools in the U.S., we invite you to read this article. If you know any physicians who would benefit from using Dialer, you can send them this link to sign up.

You can also download the full Doximity 2020 State of Telemedicine Report.