Patients rate telehealth physician visits favorably during COVID-19 pandemic

Editor's Note

This study by UCLA researchers finds patient experiences with telehealth physician appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic were as positive as traditional face-to-face visits and phone visits, or even more so.

The researchers surveyed 58,509 adult patients on their 13,928 primary care and 44,581 specialty physician visits at 197 clinics on the West Coast of the US.

Among the findings:

• Physician communication on virtual visits was viewed as slightly more positive than in-office or phone visits.
• Virtual visits were rated slightly more positive than in-office visits for care coordination, overall rating of the physician, and willingness to recommend to family and friends.
• Office staff were viewed less positively on the phone during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Patient experience rating was similar before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (94.4 vs 94.9).

The positive experiences patients had with telehealth may be due to patient appreciation of efforts made to maintain access, the focused nature of virtual visits, and help by staff in navigating technical issues, the authors say.