By Tauren Dyson MARCH 14, 2019 /
3:30 PM
When
the option exists, about 90 percent of telehealth patients prefer to talk to
doctors over video chat versus making in-person visits, according to a new
study. File Photo by
About 90 percent of telehealth patients prefer to talk to
doctors over video chat versus making in-person visits when the option exists,
according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal
of the American Medical Informatics Association. Nearly half of those patients
say they couldn't visit the doctor in-person because the office was closed or
there were no appointments available.
Telehealth allows doctors to provide video visits, which takes away the need
for people to travel long distances and sit in waiting rooms to receive medical
advice.
"People are interested in convenience and the health
care system and primary care need to adapt to technology and also patient
preferences. If we don't adapt it's a missed opportunity," Winston Liaw,
chairman of the University of Houston Department of Health Systems and
Population Health Sciences and study lead author, said in a news release.
Anthem Blue Cross surveyed people
who used their telemedicine platform, called LiveHealth Online, and found users
were less likely to have primary care physicians. This suggests they preferred
convenience over face-to-face physician connections.
"Video visit platforms have their own electronic
health records that may or may not communicate with the broader healthcare
system," Liaw said. "We have two systems operating in parallel that
are completely distinct silos that have very little communication between them.
We need to watch this closely."
Telehealth users tend to be more educated and affluent
city-dwellers, the study says. Now the researchers want to make the service
more accessible to people in poorer communities.
"We hope this is a wake up
call for our healthcare system where we will embrace the access benefit of
telehealth and balance it with coordinated care," Liaw said.
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