Virtual hospitals could offer respite to overwhelmed health systems
Posted May 15, 2023
Healthcare systems around the world are under pressure. It’s no secret that the combination of aging populations, increased burden of disease, and staffing shortages has left substantial unmet needs when it comes to acute hospital care. Resource constraints are also affecting wait times in many government-run health systems; in Australia and the United Kingdom, for example, it is commonplace for ambulances transporting patients to “ramp” at hospital entrances because bedspace is at capacity.
COVID-19 has compounded these challenges and, in many cases, further overwhelmed the capacity of hospitals and intensive care units worldwide.1 These pressures have left healthcare staff overworked and exhausted. According to a 2022 McKinsey survey, between 20 and 38 percent of nurse respondents in Australia, France, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States indicated they were likely to leave their current role in direct patient care within a year.2
These pressures are driving administrators to shift toward more accessible, cost-effective models of care. A 2021 report from the US Department of Health and Human Services found a 63-fold increase in the use of “telehealth” services, which helped maintain access to care during the pandemic.3 Although the use of telehealth has declined since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains more popular than it was prior to the pandemic.4