Telehealth and telemedicine cannot deliver well-rounded patient care in isolation. Ami Karnik Director and Venture General Manager • Virtual care is certainly here to stay, but its future • The year to come will see retailers deploying is rooted in how well it is paired with in-person health care strategies with even greater force. care. With the peak of COVID-19 mayhem behind us, Spurred by the need for convenient COVID-19 testing it is becoming clearer that telehealth and telemedicine sites, retailers have enthusiastically entered the health cannot deliver well-rounded patient care in isolation. The care space. Their near-term focus will be on expanding coming year will reveal which companies can deliver the primary care and on increasing omnichannel capabilities right combination of virtual and in-person care in a way to bring accessible, low-cost, and convenient care to pa- that optimizes patient convenience, reduces clinician tients. In addition, as competition in the space heats up, burnout, enhances clinician-patient engagement, and many retailers will opt to boost their personalized care improves health outcomes. offerings through data analytics and cloud computing ca- pabilities. Meanwhile, consumer stickiness will become • Home-based health care will receive a lot more the key to longer-term success. attention in the coming year. Driven by a growing geriatric population and improvements in technology, the balance between traditional in-person care and home-based care has been tilting toward the latter—a trend accelerated by the pandemic. With an expected annualized growth rate just shy of 8%, according to Grand View Research, home-based care is likely to continue picking up pace as more baby boomers need longer-term care for chronic conditions. In tandem, sup- port services for caregivers will increase as the demands on them become more acute. These services could cover everything from hands-on medical support to ancillary and logistics services that ease caregivers’ burden.