Patient Preferences in Telemedicine: Video Visits vs. Phone Visits

Telehealth facilitated healthcare access during the uncertainty of the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the end of the federal public health emergency for COVID-19 draws near, Medicare telehealth coverage beyond 2024 is uncertain. In particular, the role of telephone visits has come under increasing scrutiny.

Researchers analyzed 2020 survey results from 4700 community-dwelling U.S. Medicare beneficiaries (representative of 28 million older adults) who reported that their healthcare practice offered telemedicine. Key observations — as reported by patients — were as follows:

• More than 70% of respondents attended practices that offered both video and phone visits, 23% of practices offered phone visits only, and 6% offered video visit…