Telemedicine has finally become very popular. But lingering concerns remain about its effectiveness for some diagnoses and treatments.
Software Advice’s 2022 telemedicine survey found that while the majority of people prefer to book virtual appointments for common ailments, more than half of patients remain concerned about the quality of care they receive. they are receiving.
Software Advice, a Gartner company, polled more than 1,000 patients about using telemedicine after the worst of the pandemic – whether they plan to continue using it and what Improvements can be made.
We interviewed Lisa Hedges, associate principal analyst at Software Advice, to discuss the study’s findings and talk about the future of telemedicine.
Q. What is the overarching message that healthcare CIOs and other health IT leaders should draw from your research?
ONE. At this point, it’s downright stupid not to invest in telemedicine. It’s been around for a long time and completely took off in times of pandemic. Now it’s not going anywhere as so many patients have experienced the convenience it brings.
This also means that if you are one of the healthcare organizations that have adopted telehealth during the pandemic and plan to phase out those tools in the near future, you are in the wrong. wrong.
The bottom line here is that telemedicine is a valuable tool for patients, and telecare providers for certain conditions and symptoms will have an advantage over telemedicine providers. supply does not provide.
Q. Approximately 86% of patients rate their telemedicine experience as positive; 91% are more likely to choose a telemedicine provider. Why do you think this is the case and what does it mean for healthcare delivery organizations?
ONE. Convenience and ease of use are the top reasons patients prefer telemedicine and that certainly makes sense when you consider the time it saves. Patients do not have to drive to the physical office, find a parking space, spend time in the waiting room (where they can be exposed to other infectious diseases), and then drive home after the appointment is over. .
All of that is already troubling enough even without taking into account the fact that most people who go to the doctor are uncomfortable, so their basics before doing any of these things. that is discomfort.
What this means for vendors is that they are looking at a great opportunity. We are all well aware of the current shortage of qualified healthcare workers, and we know that working conditions for healthcare workers are especially harsh during a pandemic.
With so many employees leaving, that leaves a lot of side work for those who stay, leading to more burnout and even more revenue. However, if practices can find a way to ease that burden, then they will make employees’ lives better.
Telemedicine can do this by shortening the average visit time, virtually eliminating patient wait times, reducing the average number of absences, and saving money by cutting operating costs. All of these can directly or indirectly affect the quality of life of healthcare workers and patients.
Q. Only 49% prefer telemedicine for mental health treatment, even though this is one of the more telemedicine available specialties. What does this finding say about the future of telepsychology?
ONE. This is a big question that many people are wondering. Mental health care seems to be an ideal match for telemedicine, especially the use of video conferencing to conduct therapy sessions. So I’m a bit surprised that many of the patients in our survey did not indicate a preference for telemedicine.
But there are a few things to consider here.
First, we don’t collect patient history data, so not everyone who participates in our survey has had the experience of seeking mental health treatment. That could be a factor in this data set.
Second, 19% said there was no preference between telehealth and face-to-face visits for mental health treatment when we asked this question, which means only 32% preferred appointments direct mental health examination. Thus, the majority of patients still say telehealth is their favorite choice for mental health care.
As far as what this means for the future of teletherapy, I don’t think it’s a big deal. It may simply be that some patients are still brooding over the idea of having an intimate conversation with a therapist over a computer screen. It could be an age thing. It could be something else.
Despite that, I suspect that if we do this survey every year for the next few years, that 49% will increase each time.
Q. One-third of patients worry that a face-to-face examination, laboratory work, or other testing is important for proper diagnosis and treatment of the patient. How can telemedicine overcome this barrier?
One. I do not believe that telemedicine needs to overcome this barrier to prove its worth. Sure, there’s amazing progress being made in remote patient monitoring tools and other wearable devices that can help diagnose patients remotely, but I think it’s equally remarkable. that telemedicine is a tool to be used under the right circumstances – it is not a one-size-fits-all approach to medicine.
Well, for many medical conditions, doctors actually have to see patients to perform physical exams. Those situations are not ideal for telemedicine, and we shouldn’t see them as obstacles — or even failures.
If we instead reframe our thinking to recognize situations that are ideal for telemedicine appointments – situations that do not require a physical examination to diagnose, such as mental health or common ailments like upper respiratory infections – then we can see that telemedicine is a valuable tool as deeply as it stands.
So to answer your question, the real obstacle to telemedicine here is educating patients on how to best use it instead of needing to find a way to provide lab work or physical exams. health from afar. In essence: It’s a messaging problem instead of a technology issue.
The good news is that patients seem to recognize this on their own. If you consider patients’ preferences for in-person appointments versus the symptom-broken telemedicine appointments in our report, you’ll find that patients intuitively understand the symptoms. Which symptoms are best treated remotely and which are more likely to require a physical examination.
