Abstract
Telehealth use greatly increased in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patient preferences for telehealth or in-person care are an important factor in defining the role of telehealth in the postpandemic world. To ascertain patient preferences for video visits after the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency and to identify patient perceptions of the value of video visits and the role of out-of-pocket cost in changing patient preference for each visit modality. This survey study was conducted using a nationally representative sample of adult members of the RAND American Life Panel. The data were obtained from the American Life Panel Omnibus Survey, which was fielded between March 8 and 19, 2021. Preferences for video visits vs in-person care were analyzed in the survey. The first question was about participants' baseline preference for an in-person or a video visit for a nonemergency health issue. The second question entailed choosing between the preferred visit modality with a cost of $30 and another modality with a cost of $10. Questions also involved demographic characteristics, experience with video visits, willingness to use video visits, and preferences for the amount of telehealth use after the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 2080 of 3391 sampled panel members completed the survey (participation rate, 61.3%). Participants in the weighted sample had a mean (SE) age of 51.1 (0.67) years and were primarily women (1079 [51.9%]). Most participants (66.5%) preferred at least some video visits in the future, but when faced with a choice between an in-person or a video visit for a health care encounter that could be conducted either way, more than half of respondents (53.0%) preferred an in-person visit. Among those who initially preferred an in-person visit when out-of-pocket costs were not a factor, 49.8% still preferred in-person care and 23.5% switched to a video visit when confronted with higher relative costs for in-person care. In contrast, among those who initially preferred a video visit, only 18.9% still preferred a video visit and 61.7% switched to in-person visit when confronted with higher relative costs for video visits. This survey study found that participants were generally willing to use video visits but preferred in-person care, and those who preferred video visits were more sensitive to paying out-of-pocket cost. These results suggest that understanding patient preferences will help identify telehealth's role in future health care delivery.
Highlights
Telehealth use rapidly increased in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many health care practitioners offering telephone or video visits to reduce the potential for virus spread.[1]
Among those who initially preferred an in-person visit when out-of-pocket costs were not a factor, 49.8% still preferred in-person care and 23.5% switched to a video visit when confronted with higher relative costs for in-person care. Among those who initially preferred a video visit, only 18.9% still preferred a video visit and 61.7% switched to in-person visit when confronted with higher relative costs for video visits. This survey study found that participants were generally willing to use video visits but preferred in-person care, and those who preferred video visits were more sensitive to paying out-of-pocket cost
These results suggest that understanding patient preferences will help identify telehealth’s role in future health care delivery
Summary
Telehealth use rapidly increased in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many health care practitioners offering telephone or video visits to reduce the potential for virus spread.[1]. A nationally representative survey from 2020 found that 40% of patients with a health condition used telehealth in the spring of 2020.6 Surveys from before the COVID-19 pandemic found that 49% to 66% of the respondents were interested in using video visits, with greater preference for telehealth when seeing their own clinician vs a new clinician.[7,8,9,10] numerous studies have shown that patients are satisfied with telehealth and appreciate its convenience,[11,12,13] data are scarce on the role that patients would like telehealth to play in their overall care, including within hybrid care models, and the perceived value of telehealth compared with other visit modalities Such information is key to understanding the implications of different coverage and reimbursement policies, including cost sharing, for the demand for telehealth and the potential backlash of rolling back the telehealth flexibilities that were implemented for the COVID-19 pandemic
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