How Is Telehealth Changing Modern Healthcare?
In the U.S. alone, pet owners spent $29 billion on veterinary care and product sales in 2019, estimated by the American Pet Products Association. This amount includes routine vet care, surgical procedures, and pharmaceuticals.
Pet care is big business and shifting fast. Just five years ago, many vets were not familiar with Telehealth tools or technologies or at least didn’t think they would be utilized like they are today.
Pet Healthcare and Telemedicine
There’s a growing number of pet owners turning to virtual pet care as they hunker down at home due to social distancing and stay-at-home orders. This increasing demand for vet telemedicine has led to many states loosening regulations to allow for more virtual care. Tech companies in the vet Telehealth space are booming.
With both vets and pet owners’ habits changing, experts and companies estimate Telehealth practices for pets to only continue to grow, even after the pandemic is over.
John Howe, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, estimates that the use of telemedicine by vets has gone up by 20% since the outbreak of Covid-19, and he doesn’t expect that to stop.
The new normal is shifting and it is including a lot more options around how you receive vet care. Many vet offices and animal hospitals have stated that even as things are opening back up, they’ll continue to offer the option of Telehealth for pet care.
Several virtual care services are finding that once a pet owner starts using virtual pet care, they often stick with it for the sake of convenience.
How are Human and Pet Healthcare Changing?
There are a lot of benefits to both human and pet healthcare when it comes to Telehealth. Below are the top 3 ways Telehealth is changing healthcare.
Urgent questions can be easily answered.You no longer need to go into an office or hospital to have your urgent questions addressed. This is important since often delays can lead to severe consequences.
Patients and pet owners have access to more valuable healthcare information.Gone are the days that you have to guess what is going on via WebMD. Telehealth technology allows quick access to healthcare test results and direct explanations from vets or doctors.
Telehealth reduces the need for physical consultations.In a time where physical distancing is crucial, Telehealth is shaping healthcare systems to allow remote consultations and evaluations. Read more about Telehealth and Covid-19 here. The reduced need for physical consultations is also extremely important for those who are immobile or disabled, to allow them to still have easy access to human or pet healthcare.
Telehealth Going Forward
Telehealth is saving vet practices time, it has increased efficiency, and has allowed for more pay-as-you-go models that are rapidly changing pet healthcare. With roughly two-thirds of pet owners being millennials whose spending power is on a rise and are extremely capable with technology, we are likely to see rapid growth and the expansion of vet Telehealth tools and technologies. The shift began before the Covid-19 pandemic, the virus just accelerated the movement.
If you want to learn more about what Telehealth is and if it is right for you and your pet, check out our blog post here.
