In an effort to increase employee’s use of telemedicine, Walmart has recently reduced the cost of telemedicine visits for its employees by 90%, from $40 to $4. With these low costs, Walmart is hoping to convince the over a million employees enrolled in Walmart’s Associates’ Medical Plan, to begin using telemedicine more frequently.
In recent years, telemedicine has grown more popular due to regulation decreases, ease of use and reliance on smartphones. For those who don’t have the time to sit around in a waiting room for hours, telemedicine is the perfect option to reduce time spent away from their jobs.
Despite the low cost and convenience, Walmart has had difficulty getting employees to adopt telemedicine. For those who don’t have the time to visit a doctor in person, telemedicine visits can be very beneficial, however, many people still feel that they need an in-person visit to the doctor’s office. For many patients, once they give telemedicine a chance, they see the benefit of it. For many skeptical resistors of telemedicine, trying their telemedicine app one time is all they need to realize it isn’t much different than an in-person doctors appointment.