In rush to embrace telehealth, many physicians still have concerns about quality of care, survey finds
September 10, 2020 / by Heather Landi
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors turned to virtual consultations to continue to provide care to their patients.
But close to 60% of physicians have lingering reservations about the quality of care they can provide remotely, according to a recent survey.
Four out of five physicians used telehealth during the pandemic, according to Decision Resources Groups’ two-part survey of 4,855 practicing U.S. physicians conducted in March and April, with a follow-up survey in July.
As of July 2020, 80% of U.S. physicians had conducted a virtual patient consultation in the previous three months—up from 39% in April and 9% in early March, when use of virtual consults was unchanged over 2019 levels.
But, among the 20% of physicians who did not use telehealth during the past three months, the top reason cited was the possibility of diminished quality of care (49%).
