Telehealth Market Landscape from a Cable Operators Perspective

Telehealth is defined as using telecommunications technologies to support various healthcare services, such as long-distance healthcare, health education, public health administration, etc. They feature many of us are familiar with, is its ability to connect patients and physicians who live in different geographical regions most called telemedicine. Convenience and care to the likes that have never been seen before. Though this initial concept was conceived in the 1960s, only in the last decade has it started to gain ground and become an emerging industry that is projected to be valued at nearly $130.5 billion by 2025 [1]. With many advancements in Telecommunications technologies, Telehealth is becoming an increasingly important part of the American healthcare infrastructure as healthcare starts to move away from paper and in-person visits and towards virtual and more convenient healthcare.

Telehealth contains numerous benefits to the healthcare industry, not only for the patients but for other stakeholders. First, Telehealth provides convenient and accessible care. Some of the biggest inhibitors to in-person patient care today are the distance and travel time between the patient and care provider [2]. Telehealth overcomes these boundaries and provides care to rural and other areas where clinical shortages exist. It also allows for a healthcare professional to be just one call away, reducing the number of doctor visits, saving time, and preventing unnecessary costs [2]. Cisco reported 74% of patients prefer this easy access over in-person interactions [3] and a study by the American Hospital Association showed that telehealthcare saved 11% in cost and tripled investors’ ROI [4]. Additionally, telehealth has allowed for better care quality because timetables for medicine and prescriptions are more accurate. These timetables reduce stress and anxiety among patients as their health information is available to them at a moment’s notice with the use of apps and other technologies.

Over the last two decades, many existing healthcare systems and new companies have started to venture into the field of Telehealth and telemedicine. Though similar in their expertise, navigating through the products and services offered by these companies can get very tricky as they vary so drastically from company to company. Throughout the rest of this report the technology, area of focus, and business model of 19 companies around the world will be examined.