Telehealth during the pandemic: Patient perceptions and policy implications

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Digital Health
• Patient Experience

Background:

• Telehealth offers potential benefits in healthcare access, patient outcomes, and cost savings.
• Patient adoption of telehealth has historically been a challenge.
• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated global telehealth utilization, necessitating an understanding of patient perceptions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate patient perceptions of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To explore policy implications related to telehealth acceptance.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional survey design was employed.
• 366 patients from two telehealth programs at a Mississippi academic health sciences center were surveyed.
• Participants rated their openness to telehealth use due to the pandemic on a 5-point Likert scale.

Main Results:

• 73% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that the pandemic increased their openness to telehealth.
• Significant differences in telehealth openness were observed based on race/ethnicity and sex.
• Black participants (M=4.29) and female participants (M=4.11) reported higher openness compared to white (M=3.91) and male participants (M=3.65), respectively.

Conclusions:

• The COVID-19 pandemic positively shifted patient perceptions towards telehealth.
• Findings support the expansion of telehealth services to improve access to specialty care.
• Policy advocacy is recommended to reduce barriers to telehealth implementation.