Physician Perspective and Key Satisfaction Indicators with Rapid Telehealth Adoption During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Background: Physician satisfaction with telehealth during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is a strong indicator for future use. Validated surveys can guide improvement and future expansion of telehealth programs.

Introduction: This study examines physician and advanced practice provider perspectives and satisfaction using telehealth at UPMC Pinnacle and to assess key predictors of future use in ambulatory care.

Methods: A web-based Likert scale survey of UPMC Pinnacle physicians and advanced practice providers was conducted in May–June 2020. Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure the survey’s internal consistency. Crosstab analysis and multivariate regression were used to analyze the interrelationships between variables.

Results: A significant majority (64%) of physicians responded positively that they enjoyed telehealth video visits. A majority (65%) felt that the physician–patient relationship was unimpaired during telehealth visits, but only 29% of the respondents felt they were able to examine the patients properly. Providers who experienced good video and audio quality were 3.68 times more likely to enjoy telehealth visits (p < 0.001, 95% confidence interval 2.05–6.61) than those with less-than-optimal video and audio quality. Logistic regression shows a strong correlation between the audio and image quality and respondents’ satisfaction with telehealth.

Discussion: The key barriers for patients when using telehealth are perceived to be the ability to use a smartphone app, password management, or video/microphone features. For clinicians, barriers include problems with seeing and hearing on the platform.

Conclusions: Patient education and improvement of audio and image quality are essential for improving telehealth usage and satisfaction.