Most adults willing to use telehealth services but prefer in-person care
Two-thirds of adults said they would like at least some of their medical care to include video telehealth visits, but when given the choice, more than half said they preferred in-person appointments, according to survey results.
Zachary S. Predmore, PhD, an associate policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, and colleagues assessed the responses of more than 2,000 American adults aged 20 years or older in a survey conducted between March 8 and 19.
“Telehealth use in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many health care practitioners offering telephone or video visits to reduce the potential for virus spread,” they wrote. “It is unclear how telehealth will be used within the U.S. health care system after the pandemic, with early evidence suggesting that telehealth use is decreasing as patients and clinicians resume in-person care.”
Participants were asked whether they preferred an in-person visit or video telehealth visit for a nonemergency health issue. They were then asked whether they preferred an out-of-pocket cost of $30 for their preferred type of visit, or $10 for the other option. The authors noted the difference of $20 was used to assess the value participants placed on telehealth services.
Participants had an average age of 51.1 years and were primarily women (51.9%). Among the participants, 18.2% were Hispanic, 11.8% were Black, and 63.8% were white.
When cost was not a factor, 53% of participants said they preferred an in-person visit, 20.9% preferred a video visit and 26.2% did not have a preference.
When asked how they wanted to receive their medical care after the pandemic, 33.5% preferred all care to be in-person and 66.5% said they wanted some video services. Of the percentage who wanted some video services, 30.1% wanted a little, 26.1% wanted some and 10.3% said they wanted as much as possible.
Among those who had a video visit in the year before taking the survey, 44.2% reported a preference for an in-person visit, whereas 31.4% preferred video. Among those who did not have a video visit experience, 60.2% said they preferred an in-person visit and 12.2% said they would prefer a video call.
Black respondents were more likely to prefer an in-person visit compared with white or Hispanic participants, whereas Hispanic participants were more likely to prefer a video visit compared with white or Black participants, 22.9% vs. 20.4%.
“Although improving the delivery of telehealth is important, it is only part of the story,” the authors wrote. “Awareness of patient preferences will help to identify telehealth’s role in post-pandemic health care delivery.”
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