What's after COVID-19?: Communication pathways influencing future use of telehealth

Abstract

Objective: Telehealth usage for healthcare encounters has increased dramatically due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) precautions. As the pandemic health threat subsides, it is important to understand how telehealth encounters are perceived by users. In this study, we explore how patient-centered communication (PCC), and media and organizational factors, influence patients' intentions to use telehealth in the future.

Methods: An online survey was conducted among 326 adult patients who reported visiting a healthcare provider using telehealth within the past 12 months. Structural equation modeling explored how contextual factors influenced patients' adoption of telehealth.

Results: PCC and ease of use indirectly predicted telehealth adoption through enhanced patient satisfaction and sense of care continuity. Sense of security indirectly predicted telehealth adoption via its association with enhanced rating of care quality.

Conclusion: The functionality of telehealth technology does not solely determine patients' telehealth adoption. Instead, positive healthcare experiences, facilitated by organizational support, quality media designs, as well as patient-centered communication, are associated with telehealth adoption.

Practice implications: Healthcare providers should strategically improve telehealth-related communication processes that can lead to better patient health outcomes.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health care; Patient-centered communication; Privacy; Telehealth.