Understanding physicians⇔ preferences for telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: In contrast to the current broad dissemination of telemedicine across medical specialties, previous research focused on the effectiveness of telemedicine in special populations and for behavioral health encounters, demonstrating that both physician and patient factors impact the efficacious use of telemedicine. Objective: We aim to evaluate physician perceptions of the appropriateness of telemedicine for patients attending the primary care practices of a federally qualified health center in New York City. Methods: We used an anonymous cross-sectional survey including closed- and open-ended questions. We used chi-square to test whether providers from certain specialties were more likely to state they would use telemedicine in the future. We used t tests to compare age between those who would versus would not use telemedicine. We then used logistic regression to test whether age and specialty were both correlated with the desire to use telemedicine in the future. We used thematic content analysis to describe the reasons providers felt they would not want to use telemedicine in the future and to describe the situations for which they felt telemedicine would be appropriate. Results: Of 272 health care providers who were sent the electronic survey, 157 (58%) responded within the 2-week survey time frame. The mean age of providers was 45 (range 28-75) years. Overall, 80% (126/157) stated they would use telemedicine in the future. Compared to the family medicine, internal medicine, behavioral health, dental, and obstetrics and gynecology specialties, providers from pediatrics, med-peds, subspecialties, and surgery (protelemedicine specialties) were more likely to believe telemedicine would be useful post pandemic (61/67 [91%] vs 65/90 [72%]; P