How virtual urgent care drives productivity and lowers claims

Julie Henry portrait with plum and aqua background and the words "the catalyst"

By Julie Henry, Vice President, Practice Operations, Teladoc Health

New virtual urgent care enhancements help plan sponsors reduce healthcare claims

For years, virtual urgent care has been a valuable part of benefit strategies, creating faster, more affordable care while enabling clinical efficiencies that support provider capacity and translate into a better patient experience.

Today, convenience alone isn’t enough. Plan sponsors face rising healthcare costs, access challenges and growing expectations from the patients they cover—all while working to manage healthcare claims and protect productivity.

Macro forces shaping healthcare make this clear:

How virtual urgent care reduces plan sponsors' healthcare costs and claims

For plan sponsors managing rising healthcare costs, claims data across 1.6 million visits shows that virtual urgent care can reduce downstream utilization and overall healthcare spending.

Analysis of Teladoc Health 24/7 Care for the 200 most common diagnoses shows:

Traditional care—emergency department, urgent care and in-person primary care or specialist visits—is almost always more expensive
When a patient uses traditional care for an initial visit, four times more follow-up visits occur, on average.

Results underscore the value of virtual urgent care: guiding patients to the right care, at the right time, with the right provider before costs and follow-up visits escalate.

The question for plan sponsors is, how does this value extend to less common and more complex urgent health issues?

Why resolving more complex issues in one virtual visit matters to plan sponsors

Escalation is common for higher-complexity cases in urgent care—whether care begins virtually or in-person—and that downstream impact can be significant for the patient and plan sponsor.

Long wait times to see a physician and significantly higher emergency department costs delay care and increase claims. Each unnecessary referral extends time away from work—creating a direct impact on costs and employee productivity.

What should plan sponsors consider when evaluating virtual urgent care?

Demonstrated ability to resolve the primary reason for a visit in a single interaction, while appropriately identifying opportunities to close gaps in care and facilitate referrals
Care providers, enabled by technology, to orchestrate care—seamlessly connecting patients to in-person care when clinically appropriate
Real-time access to board-certified specialists, supporting timely clinical decision-making and reducing unnecessary escalation when it’s not clinically necessary

How specialist consultations reduce unnecessary care escalation

With recent enhancements, virtual urgent care teams are now better equipped to address higher-complexity health issues through specialist consultations.

Real-time access to expert specialists—often in under 30 seconds—helps:

Teladoc Health care providers deliver faster, more confident clinical decisions

Reduce unnecessary referrals by 50% when they aren’t clinically required

Avoid up to 80% of preventable ED visits

In a healthcare environment defined by rising costs and access challenges, first-visit resolution matters. A 2023 Teladoc Health analysis shows 95% of 24/7 Care patients' health concerns are addressed in a single visit. This reinforces the role virtual urgent care can play in reducing downstream utilization and supporting employee productivity.

The launch of new enhancements to 24/7 Care allows us to elevate urgent care. For patients, this means quicker resolution and fewer barriers to care. For plan sponsors, first-visit resolution translates to lower claims and a greater value from their virtual urgent care investment.