Quality of Telehealth Services in Primary Care in the State of Minas Gerais.

Abstract

Objective: Telemedicine is seen as an important tool to face contemporary health challenges. The factors that help improve quality in these services must be studied. The objective of this work was to assess the quality of telehealth primary care services offered in the State of Minas Gerais -Brazil, based on the ISO 13131 standard. Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study with a quantitative approach was conducted in the cities in the state of Minas Gerais that use telehealth services. A stratified sample composed of 385 cities was used. A questionnaire, based on ISO 13131 on the quality of telehealth services, was prepared, used, and verified for its consistency. Quality levels in telehealth were built from the data. To analyze the quality of care, data from the Ministry of Health's quality improvement program were used, involving 366 surveyed cities. Logistic regression was performed to verify the association between quality of telehealth and quality of care. Results: The research identified that 64% of the cities had records of telehealth activities, and 51% of cities had high quality telehealth services. There was no association between quality of telehealth and quality of care; only the dimensions of Quality and Risk Management were associated with quality of care. Conclusion: The developed instrument enabled the quality of telehealth actions to be verified. The State of Minas Gerais has high-quality telehealth services.