JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

New York City was the international epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare providers responded by rapidly transitioning from in-person to video visits. Telemedicine (i.e. video visits) is a potentially disruptive innovation; however, little is known about patient satisfaction with this emerging alternative to the traditional clinical encounter.

Objective:

To determine if patient satisfaction differs between video vs. in-person visits.

Methods:

Retrospective observational cohort study in which we analyzed 38,609 Press Ganey patient satisfaction survey outcomes from clinic encounters (620 video visits vs. 37,989 in-person visits) at a single-institution urban, quaternary academic medical center in New York City for patients aged 18 years during April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Time was categorized as pre-COVID-19 vs. COVID-19 (before vs. after March 4, 2020). Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests and multivariable linear regression were used for hypothesis testing and statistical modeling, respectively.

Results:

We experienced an 8,729% increase in video visit utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the same period last year. Video visit Press Ganey scores were significantly higher than in-person visits (94.9% vs. 92.5%; p<0.001). In adjusted analysis, video visits (Parameter Estimate [PE] 2.18; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20, 3.16) and the COVID-19 period (PE 0.55; 95%CI 0.04, 1.06) were associated with higher patient satisfaction. Younger age (PE -2.05; 95%CI -2.66, -1.22), female gender (PE -0.73; 95%CI -0.96, -0.50), and new visit type (PE -0.75; 95%CI -1.00, -0.49) were associated with lower patient satisfaction, respectively.

Conclusions:

Patient satisfaction with video visits is high and is not a barrier towards a paradigm shift away from traditional in-person clinic visits. Future research to compare other clinic visit quality indicators is needed to guide and implement widespread adoption of telemedicine.