Most doctors plan to continue using telemedicine after pandemic ends

Telemedicine use among office-based doctors increased nearly six-fold after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and more than 80% say they plan to continue using it even after the pandemic has ended. Those are among the findings of a newly-released study of telemedicine use conducted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The study showed that 87% of office-based physicians used telemedicine in 2021, compared with 15% in 2018 and 2019. Despite that growth, in-person visits remained a far more common form of care delivery. Only 18% of doctors who used telemedicine said it accounted for half or more of their patient visits. By contrast, slightly more than 50% said telemedicine visits made up fewer than one quarter of their visits. The most common barrier to telemedicine use, one reported by 71% of doctors, was the difficulties their patients encountered in using the technology.