Telemedicine and Its Perceptions in a Border Community: A Review of How Health Care Technology Has Helped Increase Access.

Abstract

Introduction: Telemedicine is a practical way of offering medical services to remote and underserved areas. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has provided convenient access to health care and has overcome barriers such as distance that prevent patients from receiving care. Border populations are impacted by this change in health care delivery. The goal of this study was to investigate how a border patient population perceives their experiences with telemedicine. Methods: We utilized telephone surveys of patients who had a recent telehealth visit at the Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) Family Medicine Center clinic in El Paso, Texas. Survey measures included patients' demographics, a quality assessment of the patients' most recent telehealth visit and their experience, a comparison of the patients' telehealth visit to past in-person visits, and a rating of their telehealth visit. Result: Over 2,000 individuals (n = 2,040), primarily Hispanic females, older than the age of 44 years were identified for potential inclusion in the study. Of these, 928 had a contact attempt, of which 1,378 could not be contacted, 592 were invited, 70 declined leading to a response rate of 67.6% (number invited/completed the survey). Most patients agreed that during their most recent telehealth visit their clinician listened well (98.7%), spent adequate time with them (98.2%), was prompt (94.5%), explained things well (98.0%), and was someone they would recommend to others (97.2%). When comparing telehealth to in-person visits, patients reported the following: less wait time, easier convenience, and similar quality between virtual and in-person visits. Patients rated both their likelihood of using telehealth again and their likelihood of recommending telehealth to others as an 8.68 out of 10, on average. Patients 65 years old or older had 3.17 times greater likelihood of satisfaction with virtual visits when compared with patients younger than 45 years old (confidence interval [95% CI], 1.24-11.11). Patients also had less satisfaction with virtual visits if they had lower educational attainment (odds ratio = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.01-0.81). Conclusions: We found that individuals in a border community had a positive experience with telehealth primary care visits. This approach may improve access to health care.