December 6, 2021

Patient preferences for telehealth in post-COVID-19 healthcare

Editor's Note

This survey study by the RAND Corporation finds that participants were willing to use telehealth for visits but preferred in-person care, and those who preferred telehealth were more sensitive to out-of-pocket costs.

Of 2,080 survey participants, 66.5% preferred at least some telehealth visits in the future, but 53% preferred in-person visits.

Among those who initially preferred in-person care when out-of-pocket costs were not a factor, nearly half (49.8%) still preferred in-person care, and 23.5% switched to telehealth when confronted with higher costs for in-person care.

In contrast, of those who initially preferred telehealth when out-of-pocket costs were not a factor, 18.9% still preferred telehealth, and 61.7% switched to in-person visits when confronted with higher costs for telehealth visits.

The results suggest that patient preferences will help identify the role of telehealth in future healthcare delivery, the authors say.

Read More >>
Live chat by BoldChat