Telehealth video consultations (TVCs) — which are also referred to as eConsults, eVisits, remote video consultations, or even the broader term telemedicine — are expanding in terms of use cases, deployments, and adoption.

According to a new report from Tractica, telehealth video consultation sessions will increase from 19.7 million in 2014 to 158.4 million per year by 2020. Although clinical consultations currently constitute more than three-quarters of the market, growth over the next several years will be especially strong in non-clinical settings. The research firm forecasts that non-clinical video consultations will outnumber clinical consultations by 2019.

“Telehealth video consultations lend themselves to a wide variety of medical treatments and use cases,” says principal analyst Charul Vyas. “The flexibility and efficiency of video conferencing is helping healthcare providers and payers to achieve tangible value in deploying video-based patient monitoring solutions, both in terms of positive patient outcomes and cost savings. However, the market still faces a variety of challenges, including the high initial cost of deploying services, inconsistent reimbursement models for telehealth consultations, and some continuing resistance by physicians, patients, and regulatory bodies.”