INBW32: The Ultimate Impact of Telehealth: A Thought Experiment

The Ultimate Impact of Telehealth: A Thought Experiment (INBW32)

In this inbetweenisode, Stacey Richter runs a solo thought experiment: what's the ultimate impact of telehealth, viewed not as a passing trend but as a leading indicator for the rest of the care delivery business?

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why telehealth should be understood as a leading indicator rather than a temporary pandemic trend

✅ How virtual care functions as a "head in the bed at the hospital" demand destroyer for traditional systems

✅ Why patients don't necessarily believe in-person care is superior to virtual visits

✅ How virtual-first entities are steering patients toward clinically integrated networks

✅ Why care delivery organizations that ignore telehealth risk an existential business problem down the road

WHY THIS MATTERS

Telehealth isn't going away once pandemic-era urgency fades — it's a leading indicator of where care delivery is headed next. Organizations that treat it as a temporary accommodation rather than a permanent shift in how patients access care risk finding themselves in a "very problematic position" once tele-whatever becomes existential for laggards.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

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00:00 Introduction

02:30 Should provider organizations be getting rid of telehealth?

02:40 EP330 with John Marchica.

04:36 EP349 with Lisa Trumble.

05:07 Should telehealth be viewed as a threat?

05:40 "Virtual is a 'head in the bed at the hospital' demand destroyer."

06:45 "'Virtual' is the scapegoat."

07:42 Patients/Consumers: Is in person really better?

10:42 EP338 with Nikki King; EP347 with Ian Tong, MD; EP320 with Christian Milaster; and EP302 with Blake McKinney, MD.

11:06 How one VP of finance justifies a facility fee for a telehealth visit.

11:54 Do patients actually act like consumers in the digital age?

12:12 Why are virtual-first entities steering patients to clinically integrated networks?

13:08 How is telehealth changing healthcare costs?

14:21 "It adds up to telehealth being inexorable. It's a done deal. It's not a trend."

15:17 "If telehealth is a leading indicator, anybody in the care delivery business who isn't…trying to figure out how to make telehealth work in their core business is gonna find themselves…in a very problematic position."

16:50 "When will tele-whatever become an existential problem for laggard traditional provider organizations?"