Consumer Preferences for Care Delivery Modality, Timely Care Access, and Time Costs: Insights from Discrete Choice...

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Health Economics
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Evolving telehealth coverage and reimbursement policies necessitate understanding patient preferences for care delivery.
• Assessing patient preferences for primary care modalities and time valuation is crucial for national telehealth policy decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate patient preferences for primary care delivery modes (phone, video, in-person) and the value of time.
• To determine patient willingness to pay (WTP) for different care attributes, including delivery mode, time costs, and waiting times.

Main Methods:

• Discrete choice experiments were employed to model patient preferences.
• Mixed logistic regression models were used to analyze patient choices and estimate WTP.
• A representative Midwestern US cohort, including oversampled minority groups, participated in the study.

Main Results:

• Patients assigned a value of $23.2 to a primary care visit, with a premium for in-person care ($30.3) and discounts for video ($8.7) and phone ($21.6) visits.
• Reducing time costs increased WTP, and same-day or within-3-day scheduling significantly boosted WTP compared to 7-day waits.
• Minority, older, property-less, and Medicaid-enrolled patients valued visits less but showed higher WTP for same-day appointments.

Conclusions:

• Patients prefer telehealth options for convenience and timely access, despite discounting their value compared to in-person visits.
• Telehealth benefits, such as reduced time costs and improved access, enhance its desirability and potential to prevent missed or delayed care.
• Telehealth holds significant promise for improving access and adherence to care, particularly for vulnerable subpopulations.