Patient and Health System Experience With Implementation of an Enterprise-Wide Telehealth Scheduled Video Visit Program: Mixed-Methods Study.

Rhea E Powell,Danica Stone,Judd E Hollander

doi:10.2196/medinform.8479

Abstract

BackgroundReal-time video visits are increasingly used to provide care in a number of settings because they increase access and convenience of care, yet there are few reports of health system experiences.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to report health system and patient experiences with implementation of a telehealth scheduled video visit program across a health system.MethodsThis is a mixed methods study including (1) a retrospective descriptive report of implementation of a telehealth scheduled visit program at one large urban academic-affiliated health system and (2) a survey of patients who participated in scheduled telehealth visits. Health system and patient-reported survey measures were aligned with the National Quality Forum telehealth measure reporting domains of access, experience, and effectiveness of care.ResultsThis study describes implementation of a scheduled synchronous video visit program over an 18-month period. A total of 3018 scheduled video visits were completed across multiple clinical departments. Patient experiences were captured in surveys of 764 patients who participated in telehealth visits. Among survey respondents, 91.6% (728/795) reported satisfaction with the scheduled visits and 82.7% (628/759) reported perceived quality similar to an in-person visit. A total of 86.0% (652/758) responded that use of the scheduled video visit made it easier to get care. Nearly half (46.7%, 346/740) of patients estimated saving 1 to 3 hours and 40.8% (302/740) reported saving more than 3 hours of time. The net promoter score, a measure of patient satisfaction, was very high at 52.ConclusionsA large urban multihospital health system implemented an enterprise-wide scheduled telehealth video visit program across a range of clinical specialties with a positive patient experience. Patients found use of scheduled video visits made it easier to get care and the majority perceived time saved, suggesting that use of telehealth for scheduled visits can improve potential access to care across a range of clinical scenarios with favorable patient experiences.

Highlights

Telehealth video visits, or real-time remote face-to-face visits between patients and providers, have been implemented in a number of settings in recent decades
Patients found use of scheduled video visits made it easier to get care and the majority perceived time saved, suggesting that use of telehealth for scheduled visits can improve potential access to care across a range of clinical scenarios with favorable patient experiences. (JMIR Med Inform 2018;6(1):e10) doi:10.2196/medinform
Telehealth video visit use for scheduled routine visits are increasingly implemented in various health care settings, http://medinform.jmir.org/2018/1/e10/

Summary

Introduction

Telehealth video visits, or real-time remote face-to-face visits between patients and providers, have been implemented in a number of settings in recent decades. Telehealth video visit use for scheduled routine visits are increasingly implemented in various health care settings, http://medinform.jmir.org/2018/1/e10/ XSLFO RenderX. 1 | e10 | p.1 (page number not for citation purposes) there are few published reports of health system experiences implementing telehealth programs that include scheduled video visits. The VA has reported experiences with cost savings related to widespread video visit use [10], which can inform other health systems seeking to implement system-wide video visit programs. Real-time video visits are increasingly used to provide care in a number of settings because they increase access and convenience of care, yet there are few reports of health system experiences

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion