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.