Typically, telemedicine costs a fraction of what employees (and employers) would spend on visits to urgent care clinics or emergency rooms. (Photo: Shutterstock)

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Telemedicine isn't a new concept. In fact, telemedicine dates back to the early 1920s when people were predicting doctors would soon use televisions and microphones to communicate with patients.

Obviously, telemedicine has advanced significantly since then—especially in the last 25 years with the introduction of the internet. During many of those intervening years, employees have been reticent to adopt telemedicine. Technical issues, quality of care and security concerns typically top the list of reasons many employees have not used telemedicine in the past. However, over the last few years, I've noticed a shift in employee behavior: More people are starting to embrace telemedicine. And, I'm not the only one taking notice. According to an article earlier this year, telemedicine use grew 1,398 percent from 2014 to 2018.

So, why the big shift in employee adoption? I see three big reasons:

1. Employees in rural areas have little access to in-person health care

It's so dire that employees who live in rural areas have access to only 13.1 doctors per 10,000 people as opposed to 31.2 doctors per 10,000 people in urban areas. What's more, if you're an employee living in a rural area of the United States, chances are you may have to travel upwards of 200 miles to visit the nearest hospital! And, the recent physician shortage isn't helping either.