Telehealth is becoming more popular as patients find convenience in connecting with their doctors over their computers. Now, primary care video visits may improve the patient-provider relations, according to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
In the study, Mary E. Reed, PhD., from Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, and other colleagues surveyed adult patients with a scheduled video visit to better examine their experience. In total, 1,274 patients participated, and 1,163 patients self-reported a scheduled video visit.
Their study indicated that 67 percent of those who scheduled a video visit needed to make one or more arrangements to attend an in-person office visit. Those who scheduled a video visit said they did so because of convenience (87 percent) and visit experiences, where 92 percent reported provider familiarity and 84 percent reported an improved patient-provider relationship.
Some hesitations with the video method included privacy concerns (11 percent) and preferring in-person care (41 percent).
Overall, 82 percent of the 1,163 respondents who reported they had scheduled a video visit, did indeed complete the visit. Sixty-two percent of the patients who did not complete the visit let the clinician know in some other way they would not be attending the video visit. Additionally, 12 percent changed their mind or their health issue was resolved and 26 percent reported technical issues.
“Integrated video telemedicine may be a transformative tool in increasing patient-centered access to health care,” the authors wrote.
