Medical Group Management Association
Join Now

Almost one year into COVID-19, patient satisfaction with telehealth growing

MGMA Stat - February 18, 2021

Marketing/Social Media

Patient Engagement

Patient Care Technology

MGMA Staff Members

The Medical Group Management Association’s most recent MGMA Stat poll asked healthcare leaders, “Does your practice measure telehealth patient satisfaction?” The majority (57%) said “no,” while 43% responded “yes.”

Among those whose organizations track patient satisfaction, 61% say scores have improved in the past year, compared to 7% who report scores worsened, while 33% noted “no change.”

The poll was conducted Feb. 16, 2021, with 690 applicable responses.

These results underscore a need to understand patient perceptions of telehealth as medical groups and other provider organizations strategize for a post-pandemic strategy for telehealth. Other studies in the industry point to positive experiences with telehealth:
  • A major study by J.D. Power of more than 4,300 patients in late 2020 found great patient satisfaction with telehealth during the early months of the pandemic, with overall customer satisfaction rated 860 on a 1,000-point scale — higher than all other healthcare, insurance and financial services studies done by the group.
  • The J.D. Power study pointed to patients citing five key performance indicators (KPIs) for telehealth:
    • Spending enough time to provide quality care
    • Completely resolving medical concern(s) during visit
    • Following up after visit
    • Resolving question/problem on first contact (online)
    • Resolving question/problem on first contact (via phone).
  • A June 2020 report by Kyruus, Patient Perspectives on Virtual Care, found more than 75% of patients were very or completely satisfied with virtual care experiences.

What’s influencing patient satisfaction?

Andrew J. Barbash, MD, co-founder of The Apractis Clinic, recommends that medical practice leaders take a big-picture view when it comes to telehealth programs, focusing on problems to solve and the best workflow to support those solutions. Especially given varying degrees of comfort with certain apps and interfaces, Barbash said it’s important “to make the technology part of [telehealth] … seamless, brainless and simple.”

“Take off your crisis hat and just think of what you want to do,” Barbash said. In many cases, that might mean evaluating what platform you use and the vendor that provides it. “You want a partner that's looking at how you work and how you communicate with each other, and with your patients and eventually with other colleagues,” Barbash said.

Measuring patient satisfaction may reveal that scores might be influenced by issues outside of technological hiccups. Administrators can assess how well providers have made the transition to more virtual visits and the unique ways in which the interaction with the patient has evolved based on a physician’s “webside manner.”

“Some people are better at reading body language than others, and some people are better at languages, and some people use interpreters better,” Barbash said.


Patient acquisition and retention

Patients are used to clicking a button and getting something in return within an expected amount of time. Keith Dressler, MSD, DDS, founder and chief executive officer, Rhinogram, Chattanooga, Tenn., compares it to purchasing an item online or using a rideshare app. Patients expect this convenience to carry over to healthcare.

Dressler suggests doing the following to help with patient acquisition:
  • Inform patients regarding ways they can contact you.
  • Ensure that your office phone number is textable while being HIPAA compliant.
  • Give patients a way to contact you outside office hours.
  • Make sure your practice is social media friendly and ask patients to provide reviews on third-party sites to help potential patients find you.

Much like patient acquisition, patient retention is predicated on giving patients what they want: convenience. “Lots of patients say, ‘You’ve given me back my life by being able to do this,’ because they haven’t had to take time off from work, or take kids out of school, or wait in a waiting room 30 minutes to only be told you’re healing fine,” Dressler maintains. “You have eliminated all of that. And patients are incredibly appreciative of that, give you awesome reviews and tell their friends about your services.”

In working with the Virginia Center for Women, an OB/GYN practice in the Chesapeake, Va., area, telehealth was added to replace some visits with virtual consults, timed to coincide with the arrival of test results patients previously waited for in person. This improved efficiency and gave one physician’s nurse about two hours back in the day for other work, and it gave the doctor more time to spend with patients, which helped boost patient satisfaction and, in turn, improve reviews on Google.


JOIN MGMA STAT

Our ability at MGMA to provide great resources, education and advocacy depends on a strong feedback loop with healthcare leaders. To be part of this effort, sign up for MGMA Stat and make your voice heard in our weekly polls. Sign up by texting “STAT” to 33550 or visit mgma.com/stat. Polls will be sent to your phone via text message.


Additional resources


Do you have any best practices or success stories to share on this topic? Please let us know by emailing us at connection@mgma.com.

About the Author

MGMA Staff Members
X

Shopping Cart

Your cart is empty

Subtotal:
Click here if your organization is tax exempt
X

A State Sales tax exempt certificate must be on file and taxable items cannot be ordered online. For immediate assistance during normal business hours of 7:00am to 5:00pm MT M-Th and 7:00 am to Noon MT on Friday, please call toll-free: 877-275-6462, ext. 1888

X

Checkout

Use two letter code for US states
Use three letter code for country
Use two letter code for US states
Use three letter code for country
Use two letter code for US states
Use three letter code for country

Grand Total:
Saved credit card is required for opt-in to autorenew.

Questions? Contact the MGMA Service Center for assistance during checkout or review our return policy for more information.
X

Confirmation

,
,

Total:
Payment:
Balance:
 

Thank you for your purchase! If you purchased an event, you will be receiving a follow-up email from our Learning Management System regarding the product/event purchased and no further action is required.


Loading...