While telehealth use has persisted beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, with 43 percent of adults using telehealth in 2022, there are still patient populations facing barriers to virtual care.
Telehealth use peaked during the pandemic, and though many patients have returned to in-person care, a large portion of adults continue to choose telehealth for their care two years after the public health emergency, particularly women and patients with chronic conditions, according to a recent study published by JAMA Network.
For the study, researchers used data from the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), which included 5,437 respondents who had a health care visit either in-person, over video, or audio-only.
Of the 5,437 respondents, 2,384 (43 percent) had at least one telehealth visit within the year. Most of the appointments were by video (70 percent) whereas the remainder were audio-only (30 percent).
Here’s a deeper dive into study findings:
- There was a greater percentage of telehealth visits among those who were female, had poorer health, had chronic conditions, used the internet, and had multiple health care visits.
- Older age (75 and older), no internet use, and living in the Midwest “significantly” lowered the odd of telehealth use.
- There was a greater percentage of patients with audio-only visits who were older, uninsured, and did not use the internet.
- Most adults who used video (76 percent) and audio-only (67 percent) telehealth chose to do so based on clinician recommendation or requirement. Convenience was also a leading factor for video (68 percent) and audio-only (60 percent) visits.
- Thirty percent of patients using telehealth sought acute care and 22 percent sought chronic condition management.
- Patients who only used audio visits were more likely than those who used video visits to use telehealth for annual appointments, whereas patients who chose video visits were more likely than those using audio to use it for a behavioral health visit.
- Twenty-five percent of adults who used video and those who used audio-only said the care they received was not as good as in-person care, and 19 percent said they experienced technical problems.
The persistent use of telehealth calls for further consideration of its effectiveness, noted researchers.
“Continued monitoring of technology improvements, who is using telemedicine, and for what care needs, is needed to support policy makers and health care systems advancing policies and systems that promote access to health care innovations,” the wrote.