Accenture Report: Internet Healthcare Technologies Enable $10 Billion Annual Savings for U.S. Healthcare System

According to the latest research findings from Accenture, the use of internet-based medical tools in primary care could save the U.S. healthcare system $1 billion annually.

Accenture stated that its researchers analyzed patient visits to general practitioners, including preventive care clinics, routine well-child exams for infants and children, and the diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.

The research firm explained that by 2025, the United States would face a shortage of nearly 31,000 primary care physicians, even as the population of elderly patients and those with chronic diseases continues to grow.Therefore, the application of internet healthcare products will save physicians more time, enabling them to diagnose and treat more patients. Accenture has proposed solutions with the potential to improve outcomes by optimizing processes in three areas: annual patient health examinations, continuous implementation of patient management, and patient self-care.

For annual patient consultations and treatments, physicians often spend a significant amount of time collecting information from patients. One reason is that doctors must continuously reassess patients’ health status, relying solely on the fragmented details about their condition disclosed by patients during face-to-face consultations, which limits the availability of relevant information.

In practice, however, patients can use wireless health devices, such as wearable sensors and digital scales, to collect data and transmit it to their physicians via wireless client applications prior to consultations. This approach saves an average of 5 minutes per patient visit for physicians. According to Accenture, this is equivalent to saving the workload of 37,000 primary healthcare professionals or reducing their average workload by 18%.

Under the second scenario, Accenture stated that physicians should adopt electronic visits, a form of asynchronous communication that enables them to interact with patients through secure messaging. Such consultations can be completed within 10 minutes. Accenture calculated the time savings; for instance, in the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension, adopting this approach instead of face-to-face consultations would free up approximately 1,500 primary care physicians, or reduce the physician workforce by 1%, ultimately generating an estimated annual value of around $300 million.

Option 3,Focusing on patient self-management, Accenture uses adult patients with diabetes as an example. Participants in the study were able to use digital health tools, such as wireless glucose monitors, to manage their health. These products typically provide users with prompts and recommendations for self-management plans. The data are then transmitted to the patients’ clinical care teams, enabling physicians to prioritize those who truly need assistance. Optimizing patient self-management programs could free up approximately 24,000 primary care physicians, or reduce the workload of primary care physicians by 11%.



This June, Accenture released a similar report predicting that FDA-approved Internet-based medical devices will save the U.S. healthcare system tens of billions of dollars between now and 2018.

Similar research findings indicate that the FDA approved 33 internet-connected medical devices in 2014, with this number projected to rise to 100 by 2018. It is estimated that FDA-approved internet-connected medical devices (defined as internet-enabled devices or software used for treatment or disease prediction) have saved the U.S. healthcare system nearly $6 billion by improving medication adherence, facilitating behavioral modification, and reducing emergency department visits. This figure is projected to increase to $10 billion by 2015, $18 billion by 2016, and reach $30 billion by 2017.

Accenture recently released the findings of its 2015 Technology Vision survey, which gathered responses from more than 1,000 executives across various industries in both developed and emerging markets, as well as insights from over 100 experts in the life sciences sector. The results indicated that 85% of respondents believe that the proliferation of smart hardware, sensors, and other connected devices will facilitate the life sciences industry’s transition from selling products to delivering outcomes. Consequently, Accenture posits that the next generation of internet-based health platforms will originate from healthcare and life sciences companies, rather than technology firms.

Translator: Chen Kun

Editor: Zhang Nan