In a new report examining the rapidly evolving telehealth landscape, KLAS found that vendors self-reported a wide array of capabilities – and it noted that different companies can meet different customers' needs.

KLAS also found varying levels of self-reported customer adoption of vendors' tools across four common telehealth scenarios.  

"To help healthcare organizations quickly understand the breadth of vendors’ telehealth offerings, KLAS has developed a framework – or ecosystem – meant to guide organizations to vendors who can accommodate their specific care types, use cases, and technical requirements," according to the report.  

WHY IT MATTERS  

KLAS found that, perhaps unsurprisingly, virtual care platform vendors reported the broadest capability sets regarding delivery, front-end technology and connectivity, workflow and content, and integration.  

Teladoc Health scored highest of any of the included vendors for total capabilities offered, although closer to the average for customer adoption rates.   

"Teladoc Health reports customers most often adopt capabilities for tele-specialty consults, and a majority also do scheduled and on-demand visits," said KLAS researchers. 

"Teladoc’s offering stands out for its front-end technology, particularly the hardware," they add.  

Amwell, meanwhile, reported a greater adoption rate (especially for front-end technology and communication), but fewer capabilities.  

And Caregility, which won a Best in KLAS award this year, "reports deep adoption for scheduled and on-demand visits as well as tele-specialty consultations," said KLAS.  

"Their capability set is more limited than those of more long-standing vendors, especially regarding care delivery and workflows, where Caregility supplements with several third-party partnerships," the report said.

When it comes to electronic health record-centric virtual care, Epic self-reported the greatest breadth of capabilities and highest customer adoption.

KLAS also noted "surprisingly broad capabilities" from remote patient monitoring vendors, particularly Health Recovery Solutions – especially when it came to video visits.  

And when it comes to video conferencing platforms, KLAS says Doxy.me "stands out" for administrative workflows.  

"They report integration with most EMR vendors, though in previous research, customers have noted integration struggles," researchers said.  

THE LARGER TREND  

The COVID-19 crisis triggered a push toward telehealth services, including from companies that had not previously offered virtual care.

Now, demand for telemedicine on the patient side has slowed somewhat. But industry interest is continuing apace – with many big players, such as Amazon, throwing their hat into the proverbial ring. 

ON THE RECORD  

"The COVID-19 pandemic greatly accelerated healthcare delivery organizations’ adoption of telehealth and virtual care technologies," said KLAS researchers. "As these organizations scrambled to meet the immediate demand, they quickly implemented solutions that often required few resources and met focused needs.

"At the same time," they said, "vendors quickly pivoted to either develop dedicated telehealth products or add telehealth capabilities to existing offerings, creating a sea of options."

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.