While telemedicine soared during the early months of the pandemic as lockdown measures prevented face-to-face consultations. There was a distinct desire to return to business as usual as quickly as possible again, especially among governments.
Research from the University of Rochester provides a timely reminder that telemedicine remains hugely popular and effective at delivering a wide range of health services, including mental health.
“For patients, the message is clear and reassuring: Telemedicine is an effective and efficient way of receiving many kinds of health care,” the researchers explain. “Especially for those with transportation challenges, it is a service that really fills a gap—and vitally, it does not compromise the quality of the care that patients receive.”
Addressing concerns
The researchers wanted to address three primary concerns around telemedicine:
- That it reduces access to care, especially among the most vulnerable who lack access to digital services.
- That reimbursing providers at the same rate as for face-to-face services will over-encourage the use of telemedicine.
- That telemedicine isn’t an effective way of delivering care.
“We really dug into the data, and it disproved all three concerns, which is really quite exciting,” the researchers explain. “Not only did our most vulnerable patients not get left behind—they were among those engaging the most with, and benefitting the most from, telemedicine services.
“We did not see worse outcomes or increased costs, or patients needing an increased amount of in-person follow-up. Nor did we find evidence of overuse. This is good care, and it is equitable care for vulnerable populations.”
Confounding myths
The researchers believe that their study provides the first detailed analysis of each of the three myths, and provides reliable data to debunk each of them. They hope that this will ultimately result in wider adoption of telemedicine.
“For our providers, a major concern about telemedicine has always been, ‘What might I miss if I can’t sit in the room with the patient?’” they explain. “But we simply didn’t find any increase in negative outcomes. This doesn’t mean telemedicine will replace in-person care, but it’s clear that it can help people access care more consistently and comfortably and that it provides a highly effective complement to traditional care.”
The authors hope that by providing evidence to challenge some of the myths surrounding telemedicine that service providers will start to take a more evidence-based approach to whether to use it or not, and therefore facilitate the growth in telemedicine services.
