Purpose of Review
The purpose of this review is to describe the determinants of satisfaction with telemedicine (TM) and how they compare with in-person visits from both the perspective of patients and of providers.
Recent Findings
The use of TM will expand only if patients and providers are at least as satisfied with it as they are with in-person visits. Since deviations from expected care can result in reduced satisfaction regardless of the quality of the visit or objective medical outcomes, it is important to understand and to help form those expectations when possible. Patients consistently report 95–100% satisfaction rate with TM when compared with in-person appointments. They tend to cite the convenience of decreased travel times and costs as the main drivers for satisfaction with TM. Providers tend to be satisfied with TM if they have input into its development, there is administrative support, the technology is reliable and easy to use, and if there is adequate reimbursement for its use.
Summary
Satisfaction with TM is necessary for adoption of this new technology. To improve satisfaction it is important to consider factors that drive it both for patients and for providers.
Telemedicine (TM) has become a popular method of accessing medical services between providers and patients and is viewed as a cost-effective alternative to more traditional episodic faceto-face encounters. TM overcomes 2 barriers that patients face when seeking health care: distance and time. It is as effective as in-person visits for outpatient treatment of asthma, and it is a convenient way to provide inpatient consultations for patients when the allergist practices outside of the hospital. TM also has been used to manage patients with asthma in schools. Patients tend to be as satisfied with TM or they prefer TM over in-person visits, but infrequently they do prefer in-person visits. In addition to virtual visits using TM, there are several emerging technologies that are relevant to the practice of allergy/ immunology including electronic diaries (eg, symptoms and medication use), wearable technology (eg, to monitor activity and vital signs), remote patient monitoring (eg, environmental exposures and medication adherence) as well as electronic medical records augmented with clinical decision support. We believe that the use of TM, particularly when combined with information technologies such as electronic health records, has the potential to cause a transformational change in the way care is delivered by altering the process of interaction between patient and provider. TM addresses the shortage of allergy specialists in rural and underserved urban communities and facilitates patient access to allergy services. As patients take more control of their health care, use of TM is likely to increase because a large part of the move to adopt TM is driven by patient preference. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2020;145:445-54.)
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