Nearly one year ago, CivicScience asked: Is telemedicine adoption plateauing? The answer is yes, new users of remote health care services in the U.S. have neither increased or decreased much in the last calendar year. The data on satisfaction with these services looks similar to overall adoption although satisfaction started out high only to plummet before plateauing.
People benefiting the most from telemedicine appear to be those who are already generally healthy individuals. A cross-tabulation of health status and satisfaction with telemedicine reveal higher levels of satisfaction among people who rate themselves as ‘very healthy’ or ‘pretty healthy.’ The data tells us how it is: 70% of people, regardless of health status, want their future general ailment appointments to be in person with a doctor.
The increased availability and access to telemedicine throughout the pandemic definitively made it easier for people to receive healthcare. Twenty-two percent of telemedicine users say access to telemedicine led them to seek medical care they wouldn’t have otherwise. These people tend to be younger (under 35) and living in cities. And most interestingly, the are slightly more likely to consider themselves to be more unhealthy than healthy.
Until another massive, nationwide need to see your doctor remotely arises, or telemedicine services drastically improve in form and function, telemedicine will just be here for those who can or want to use it.
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