Telemedicine’s future in the post-Covid-19 era, benefits, and challenges: a mixed-method cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

This triangulation design-based study investigates the benefits and challenges of telemedicine adoption among 2875 patients and caregivers above 18 years old after the Covid-19 pandemic using a cross-sectional survey. In the quantitative part, we run logistic regression models to identify the predictors of the behavior (intention of telemedicine use after Covid-19) following the health belief model. For the qualitative part of the study, we use thematic analysis to identify the benefits and challenges of the same behavior. Positive experiences, convenience of telemedicine, unsafety during in-person visits, and extensive use of telemedicine during Covid-19 were positively correlated with the user’s behavior. In addition, insurance coverage of online visits and the safety of home-based care encourages patients to continue trusting telemedicine. Through the qualitative analysis, we found that factors encouraging patients and caregivers to continue using telemedicine after the pandemic are safety, access to care, convenience, trust in technology, and system and technology-related factors. The challenges of telemedicine adoption post-Covid-19 era included systems-related limitations, work environment issues, trust, and communication issues. More efforts must be made to improve telemedicine design and healthcare infrastructure to align with telemedicine requirements. Policies must consider the regulations’ updates needed to ensure successful telemedicine adoption.

KEYWORDS:

• Telemedicine
• health information technology
• technology acceptance
• health belief model
• Covid-19

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Wesley Michael, President and Founder of Rare Patient Voice, LLC, for his help with the data collection and availability.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).