Patient Experience with Telehealth Medicine During the Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated integration of telehealth services into OBGYN practices in New York City. Since then, studies have shown high patient satisfaction with OBGYN telehealth services. However, few studies have compared satisfaction between obstetric and gynecologic patients. The primary objective of this study was to compare satisfaction with telehealth services between obstetric and gynecologic patients.

Methods: This was an institutional review board-approved cross-sectional survey study among patients who had a telehealth visit at NYU OBGYN Faculty Group Practice from March 2020 to March 2021.

Results: Gynecologic patients had higher rates of being “completely satisfied” compared with obstetric patients (40% vs. 24%, p < 0.001). Gynecologic patients were more likely to opt for telehealth services than obstetric patients both during a pandemic (70% vs. 59%, p < 0.001) and in the absence of a pandemic (53% vs. 37%, p < 0.001).

Discussion: Prior studies have demonstrated high satisfaction with OBGYN telehealth. However, obstetric patients were less likely than gynecologic patients to feel satisfied with and opt for telehealth services.