Patient and clinician experiences with telehealth for patient follow-up care.

OBJECTIVES: The increasing and widespread availability of personal technology offers patients and clinicians the opportunity to utilize real-time virtual communication to enhance access to health services. Understanding the perceived value of different modes of care may help to shape the future use of technology.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional surveys of patients and clinicians participating in telehealth virtual video visits (VVVs) in an academic health system.

METHODS: We administered surveys to 426 unique established patients and 74 attending physicians in our hospital to measure perceptions of the comparative experience of VVVs and office visits; 254 patients and 61 physicians completed the surveys.

RESULTS: When comparing VVVs and office visits, 62.6% of patients and 59.0% of clinicians reported no difference in "the overall quality of the visit." VVVs were vastly preferred to office visits by patients for convenience and travel time. A majority (52.5%) of clinicians reported higher efficiency of a VVV appointment.

CONCLUSIONS: For established patients, VVVs may provide effective follow-up and enhanced convenience when compared with traditional office visits.