News Feature | May 21, 2014

Good News For Telehealth: Office Visits ‘Too Inconvenient'

Katie Wike

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Telehealth Superior To Inconvenient Office Visits

According to a recent survey, more than half of those surveyed admitted to rescheduling appointments because they were inconvenient - good news for telehealth proponents according to MDLIVE.

An MDLIVE survey focused on discovering how Americans feel about mobile access to doctors has uncovered some interesting results about telehealth. For instance, more than half (54 percent) of the 2,000 adults surveyed had postponed an appointment with their doctor because “it is too inconvenient.” The top reasons respondents gave for rescheduling were:

  • cannot take a day off from work - 30 percent
  • high costs (co-pays, co-insurance) - 25 percent
  • takes too long to get an appointment - 16 percent
  • don’t want to sit too long in the waiting room - 12 percent
  • embarrassment about my condition - 7 percent
  • too many germs at healthcare provider’s location - 6 percent
  • not comfortable discussing personal medical issues in person - 4 percent

According to Becker’s Hospital Review, the survey also found that most young adults, ages 18-34, would prefer a consultation on a mobile device. Eighty-two percent of young adults would prefer telehealth and 42 percent would be willing to sacrifice something if it meant they would have access to their physician on their mobile device at any time. Interestingly, only 19 percent of people age 55 to 64 would sacrifice something for the mobile access to their physician.

Young adults said they would be willing to give up the following for mobile access to their physicians:

  • 13 percent would give up shopping for a month
  • 9 percent would give up their next vacation
  • 5 percent would give up showers for a week
  • 3 percent would give up a salary increase
  • 1 percent would give up their significant other

Americans also responded the place they would most like to have access to telehealth was while on vacation (35 percent). Other answers were while in bed (33 percent), while at work (23 percent), and while riding in the car (20 percent).

“The study demonstrates that telehealth is not just seeing a demand for access to quality patient care anywhere, anytime but that the industry is at an inflection point where adoption among the younger generations will drive demand among both consumers and young professionals entering the workforce,” said Randy Parker, Founder and CEO of MDLIVE. “MDLIVE is leading this movement by announcing along with the results of our study the release of the world’s most feature rich, user-centric mobile app, marking the first truly integrated virtual health system. MDLIVE is fully focused on providing the best quality, and most accessible, healthcare at an affordable rate for all users worldwide where and when they want it.”