蘑菇AV

The trend: We鈥檝e seen more telehealth and D2C health companies tap into markets for hormone replacement therapy for women in perimenopause and menopause and testosterone replacement therapy for men. Vitamin Shoppe and Marius Pharmaceuticals recently rolled out a program that offers the drugmaker鈥檚 prescription testosterone replacement therapy capsules over telehealth.

But NovoCare is taking a different approach by not directly partnering with telehealth providers to prescribe Wegovy. Lilly and Pfizer are being scrutinized by a group of US senators who are concerned that telehealth clinicians who work with the pharma companies will be incentivized to prescribe their drugs even if they鈥檙e not medically necessary.

Lilly has recently inked similar deals with several other telehealth companies, including Noom and Sesame. For its part, Novo hasn鈥檛 affiliated itself with any telehealth providers. But it just cut the price of Wegovy to $499 per month for cash-pay patients using Novo鈥檚 D2C online platform. Our take: Hims may have burned bridges with the two biggest players in the GLP-1 drug market.

蘑菇AV one-third said they would consider AI for various medical purposes, including remote monitoring (35%), predictive health alerts (33%), and virtual health help (31%). Our take: AI health agents add personalization and access to new health information for time-crunched consumers. But for now, the chatbots are still more advice generators than replacements for real doctor recommendations.

The study measures satisfaction with websites and digital apps across five factors (in order of importance): visual appeal, navigation, information/content, speed, and telehealth.

Digging into the data: 蘑菇AV 60% of consumers currently use a patient portal, making it the most used digital health tool鈥攁head of emails, texts, and telehealth. Consumers value using digital tools to communicate with healthcare providers, access their medical data, and book and receive care. 75% say it鈥檚 somewhat or very important for them to use digital tools to connect with the healthcare system.

Pfizer鈥檚 health answers service follows last year鈥檚 launch of a D2C platform where patients can connect to telehealth providers and order over-the-counter health products. These offerings put Pfizer ahead of traditional pharma company websites that contain resources to help patients, such as educational information on medications and treatments, drug discount cards, and insurance-related assistance.

Unprecedented patient demand for GLP-1 weight loss drugs spearheaded a secondary market of telehealth companies, medical spas, and others to sell compounded versions. Copycat GLP-1s are typically available for less than $200/month鈥攆ar cheaper than the $1,000/month or more that Ozempic and Wegovy cost without insurance.

PoC advertising can be displayed via digital screens in doctors鈥� offices or during telehealth visits and can be used to convey information about medications and treatments. Sources. Mediaocean. MediaRadar. Medical Marketing & Media. Swoop.

They plan to introduce legislation that will require telehealth companies to comply with the same advertising regulations as pharma manufacturers. This sentiment has been echoed by associations such as The Partnership for Safe Medicines and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Both groups believe that Hims鈥� ad violates FDA rules. TV critics say the ad鈥檚 messaging was unclear.

Drug manufacturers, health tech entities, and telehealth providers are starting to cut out industry middlemen such as insurers and pharmacy benefit managers that can bottleneck patient access to companies鈥� products and services. New healthcare and pharma D2C business ventures will emerge in 2025.

And essentially on these websites you can go on, and this doesn't apply to all of the company medications, but some of them, so you can go on and click a button that says, "I want to talk to a telehealth provider that's affiliated with the pharmaceutical company." You get an appointment with a telehealth provider within minutes or hours.

Additionally, there is mounting concern among doctors who view the 鈥渘on-traditional" (e.g., D2C companies, telehealth platforms) weight loss drug market as problematic, according to a December 2024 Sermo survey.

It recently expanded its D2C telehealth service to offer cash-pay chat consultations or video visits for common health issues. The retailer hopes to offset financial losses from its failed primary care and health clinic endeavors by getting telehealth patients to fill prescriptions at Walgreens pharmacies.

And 31% are open to using AI for virtual health assistance. Yes, but: 88% of consumers express concerns about the growing use of AI in healthcare settings, with 58% specifically worried about the lack of human oversight.

For example, they acknowledge that telehealth has made it much easier to receive care. Two-thirds of patients have used some form of telehealth in the last two years. And we project that over 90 million US adults will use telehealth this year.

How healthcare providers will approach telehealth in 2023: Here鈥檚 the current status of health systems鈥� and physician practices鈥� virtual care programs and how they plan to improve this year.

Easy access and short wait times drive consumers to telehealth: But virtual care providers will need to stay on top of their game to keep patients from going elsewhere.

Telehealth apps are violating consumer trust: We unpack data from STAT鈥檚 recent report on direct-to-consumer telehealth companies鈥� shady data-sharing practices that could eroder consumers鈥� trust in digital health.

Amazon gets back in the telehealth game with Amazon Clinic: It鈥檚 partnering with HealthTap and SteadyMD to treat common ailments鈥攂ut competitors already offer more comprehensive services.

It consolidated Amazon Clinic into One Medical and expanded its telehealth business to include fixed pricing. Amazon Clinic, a D2C telehealth venture, is now called Amazon One Medical Pay-per-visit.

What鈥檚 the greatest value of telehealth? The debate over telehealth鈥檚 ability to reduce healthcare spending doesn鈥檛 tell the whole story of how virtual care benefits providers and patients.

WeightWatchers enters the Rx business for obesity: Its acquisition of medication-based weight loss program Sequence signals an emerging digital health market trend鈥攂ut consumers must be cautious of telehealth startups' claims.

Which companies are and aren鈥檛 threatening health systems? Incumbent providers should be keeping tabs on retail and tech conglomerates instead of telehealth-focused players.