KeyCare, the nation’s first Epic-based virtual care company, has officially announced results from its latest survey, which revealed that patients are now preferring telehealth to office visits for a variety of medical issues, including urgent care, preventive care, chronic care, and specialty services. More on the same would reveal how, for minor but urgent issues like cough, sinusitis, and rash, almost 75% expressed a preference for telehealth visits or whichever is first available (between telehealth and office visits). Markedly enough, the results were similar for other types of visits, such as preventive, specialty, and chronic care, with over 63% preferring telehealth or whichever is first available. On the other hand, only a minority preferred going to the office.
When quizzed regarding why they preferred telehealth over in-office visits, more than 73% respondents cited the lack of a need to travel as their biggest motivation. Furthermore, 67% of respondents deemed quicker access to care as their reason behind this preference, whereas 54% chose the same due to their willingness to avoid being in the same waiting room as other sick people.
Moving on, over 51% respondents claimed that telehealth format’s ability to stay flexible with hours is probably its biggest upside, and complimenting the same was a faction of 29% respondents who would pick it just so they could avoid losing any workdays. Beyond that, an estimated 23% also justified their preference by claiming that they don’t want to bother their doctor with a minor issue.
Among other things, the survey would inform us on how more than 73% patients have had a virtual urgent care visit in the past year. Out of these, when asked what type of other virtual care visits they have had in the past, 33% answered preventive care, whereas on the other hand, 32% said chronic care. Another 32% of respondents were found to have their telehealth visits focused on behavioral health, and alongside that, 14% of patients opted for it to receive specialty care.
To build upon these findings, once provided a scenario of looking to start care with a new health system where the wait for an office visit was over one month, over 82% said they would likely or absolutely choose to do a telehealth visit within three days instead. Against that, no more than 4.5% said would absolutely wait for an office visit.
An estimated three-quarters (78%) of patients also said that it was important for their regular doctor and telehealth doctor to have equal level of access to their health records, such as current allergies, medications and chronic health conditions. Having said so, nearly 37% would reveal that their last virtual provider either did not have access to their medical records or they were unsure if they did.
Hold on, we are not done yet. You see, despite telehealth’s growing prevalence, 65% returned with a negative answer when asked whether their health system had ever sent pro-active messages about the availability of telehealth for medical visits. One more sticking point for telehealth is rooted in how over 55% were unsure or answered “no” upon being questioned whether their current primary care physician or health system offers on-demand telehealth visits for minor urgent health issue.
Not just that, when asked whether their health system had ever let them know they could utilize telehealth if the wait for an office visit was too long or it was their preference for other reasons, 41% responded “no.”
All in all, KeyCare’s survey studied responses from around 400 patients who have previously engaged in telehealth visits.
“It is clear that patients place a high value on telehealth for its comfort, convenience, and seamless accessibility to care,” said Lyle Berkowitz, MD, CEO of KeyCare. “However, what is also clear is that many patients are not aware of the full breadth of telehealth offerings provided by their health systems and primary care physicians. Health systems should ensure that they are clearly communicating their telehealth options to patients through all available channels, while ensuring that they have as much supply as needed to meet the demand that is growing.”
