Two-in-three willing to use telehealth
A survey of U.S. consumers found that 64% of Americans are willing to have doctor visits via video telehealth.
The nationally projectable survey of 2,019 Americans ages 18 years and older was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of American Well in December.
Consumers perceive video as the best form of telehealth — 63% of consumers believe that live video visits are more likely to yield an accurate diagnosis than phone or email alone. Among smartphone users, this sentiment was higher at 69%. These views are corroborated by statistics recorded on American Well’s telehealth service, Amwell, where 94% of visits use live video.
Consumers want to select the doctor they see, not be randomly assigned to one. As many as 88% prefer to choose a doctor based on the credentials, training and experience provided in a physician’s online profile.
And consumers expect online visits to be cost-savers, with 62% thinking a video visit should cost less than an in-person visit. In-office visits cost, on average, $82 for first-time patients, according to the Healthcare Blue Book, Amwell reported.
Harris Poll found evidence that telehealth will change the way healthcare is delivered in three key areas:
After hours care: Consumers still consider the ER as their first choice for late night urgent care; however, video visits have now become the second choice overall for consumers if their child or a loved one was sick with a high fever, ranking higher than 24-hour nurse lines. Moreover, 21% of people said they would do a video visit first. That number rises to 30% in parents of children younger than 18 years of age;
Primary care: 70% of consumers report that they’d rather have an online video visit than an in-office visit to obtain common primary care prescriptions. Consumers indicate interest in telehealth visits for getting prescriptions refilled (60%), antibiotics (41%) and chronic condition management medication (40%); and
Choosing a doctor: A majority of patients say they are willing to see a doctor via video telehealth (64%), and 7% of consumers say they would actually switch primary care doctors to ones that offer telehealth visits. While 7% may seem like a modest number, it represents 20 million adults, Amwell noted. Among the millennial generation, young adults 18 years to 34 years old, this number was higher, at 11%.