Virtual care has been increasingly accepted as a means of efficient delivery of health care services. Events like the COVID pandemic accelerated its acceptance and revealed significant opportunities for employers to leverage virtual care to help employees manage chronic conditions while also reducing the employer’s benefit plan costs.-By Malibu Kothari

During the pandemic, there was major growth in the number of people using telemedicine (virtual care) services. In fact, Mercer’s National Survey of Employer Sponsored Health Plans found that employer telemedicine programs experienced a 4,000 percent growth in utilization year-over-year in March 2020.