By Bruce Japsen, Forbes, Contributor
Accenture says on-demand healthcare investment will grow from $250 million today to more than $1 billion by 2017
Feb 2, 2016 @ 07:59 AM– The move to make the healthcare system a digital-first industry as Uber and Lyft have done for U.S. transportation will trigger a quadrupling to $1 billion the projected venture capital investment in on-demand health products this year.
A new report from Accenture says on-demand healthcare investment will grow from $250 million today to more than $1 billion by 2017 . Already, two of the top 10 venture-backed on-demand companies are telemedicine firms Teladoc (TDOC) and privately held American Well, which link doctors and patients via video for consultations.
“This is heavily focused on consumers,” Brian Kalis, Accenture’s managing director of digital health said in an interview. On-demand companies and their venture backers see consumers wanting “convenience, simplicity and speed and they are trying to bring this into healthcare,” Kalis added.
Aside from the transportation industry, Accenture said healthcare is the fastest growing on-demand sector. There were 42 on-demand healthcare companies in 2014 compared to just four in 2010, Accenture’s report shows.
The venture capital investment is driven in part by expanding healthcare coverage of virtual consultations provided by telehealth vendors including Teladoc, MDLive and American Well. Big insurers like Aetna AET -1.98%, UnitedHealth Group UNH -0.88%, Anthem ANTM -2.38% and most major Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in the last year or so have expanded health coverage to include some reimbursement to telehealth vendors. UnitedHealth said last year it was expanding telehealth access to 20 million health plan customers.
There were 42 on-demand healthcare companies in 2014 compared to just four in 2010, Accenture’s report shows.
