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Consumers want telemedicine. Over the past 15 years study-after-study has documented patient satisfaction and support for telemedical services. Such services offer patients the access to providers that might not be available otherwise as well as medical services without the need to travel long distances.
- A study of patient acceptance in telepsychiatry concluded that "most consumers found that a video link with a psychiatrist moderately or greatly helped them in managing their treatment, with 98% of the preferring to be offered videoconferencing in combination with local services." 1
- A study of patient satisfaction with telemedicine services in rural California was conducted of 793 patients. The results indicated that patients believed that telemedicine made it easier for patients to receive care (90%), general satisfaction with telemedicine (87%), were willing to continue with receiving services via telemedicine (90%), received the necessary information from specialists (85%), and [was as good as in-person care] (61%). The conclusions were that "telemedicine is an acceptable to patients as a method of improving access to specialty expertise, and compares favorably with fact-to-face care."2
- In 1999, the DHHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded the Oregon Health Sciences University to study Telemedicine for the Medicare Population. The Report assesses telemedicine technologies that substitute for face-to-face medical diagnosis and treatment, focusing on three technologies -- store and forward, self-monitoring/testing and non-surgical services. A chapter was devoted to studies on satisfaction. The majority of the Report's selected studies show patients satisfied with their telemedicine treatment. Out of 18 studies examined, only one study showed that most patients preferred face to face assessment in lieu of teleconsults. The rest of the studies reveal high levels of satisfaction.3
- The University of East Carolina (ECU) School of Medicine conducted a study that included a review of other non-telemedicine studies that look at patient satisfaction as well as 12 studies of patient satisfaction in telemedicine applications. They also report their own findings about patient satisfaction based on data collected and evaluated from 495 real-time interactive telemedicine clinical consultations associated with their Telemedicine Center at the School of Medicine. ECU's review of 12 telemedicine studies showed patient satisfaction ranging between 71% to 100%. ECU studied a wide variety of clinical specialists including dermatology (33.5%), allergy (21%), cardiology (17%), psychiatry (5.1%), endocrinology (4.2%) and rehabilitation medicine (4.0%). Patient satisfaction was examined in relation to patient age, gender, race, income and insurance. Overall patient satisfaction with telemedicine applications was found to be a high 98.3%. Patients were highly satisfied with consultations through telemedicine and reported that care was easier to obtain.4
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