COVID-19 Coalition Survey Illustrates Quality of Telehealth Care

Nov. 19, 2020

The survey also revealed some challenges still lingering, including that nearly 6 in 10 respondents noted they can’t currently access telehealth technology directly from their EHRs

Rajiv Leventhal

The use of telehealth for care delivery has surged during the pandemic, and a new survey from the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition reveals that 75 percent of respondents said telehealth has enabled them to provide quality care for not just COVID-19-related care, but also acute care, chronic disease management, hospital/emergency department follow-up, care coordination, preventative care, and mental/behavioral health.

The COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition is comprised of more than 1,000 healthcare organizations, technology firms, and nonprofits, and recently published its Telehealth Impact Physician Survey with four core research aims: to find out how well telehealth served the clinical needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic; to explore which telehealth platforms and technologies physicians and other qualified healthcare professionals used during the pandemic; to examine the strengths and weaknesses of telehealth related to quality of care; and to gauge physicians' expectations for the use of telehealth after the pandemic.

The study was prepared by the coalition’s Telehealth Work Group, comprised of the American Medical Association, American Telemedicine Association, Change Healthcare, Digital Medicine Society, Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, MassChallenge HealthTech, Mayo Clinic, and MITRE. The 48-question survey captured the opinions of 1,594 physicians and other qualified healthcare professionals in July and August. Among those surveyed, 87 percent were medical doctors and 13 percent were non-physician providers including nurse practitioners, psychologists, physician assistants, and social workers. Key findings include:

60 percent reported that telehealth has improved the health of their patients.
68 percent said they’re motivated to increase telehealth use in their practices.
11 percent said they were using remote patient monitoring technologies with patients in their homes. Commonly used tools included smartphones, blood pressure cuffs, body weight scales, and pulse oximeters.
55 percent indicated that telehealth has improved the satisfaction of their work.
More than 80 percent of respondents indicated that telehealth improved the timeliness of care for their patients. A similar percentage said that their patients have reacted favorably to using telehealth for care.

“The strong support shown for telehealth, as evidenced in these results, reinforces the knowledge that telehealth is critical to how we deliver healthcare today,” said Steve Ommen, M.D., medical director, Mayo Clinic Center for Connected Care, and one of the study’s co-investigators. “The use of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights its importance in care delivery. Its continued use will be instrumental in connecting to patients everywhere.”

At the same time, the survey also found barriers and challenges still exist and/or are anticipated beyond the pandemic. For example:

3 percent indicated that no or low reimbursement will be a major challenge post-COVID. The government adapted many regulations to enable telehealth during the pandemic, though it’s unclear which of those flexibilities will remain post-pandemic.
More than 64 percent said technology challenges for patients were a barrier to the sustainable use of telehealth. These perceived challenges included lack of access to technology and/or internet/broadband, as well as low digital literacy.
58 percent are not able to currently access their telehealth technology directly from their electronic health records

John Halamka, M.D., president of the Mayo Clinic Platform and co-chair of the coalition, said, “In addition to technology and policy change during COVID-19, we’ve had culture change. Patients will expect more virtual care even after we return to the new normal post vaccination.”