Among Flaws, Telehealth Use Remains High in Virginia in 2023

Virtual care remains widely used among providers in 2023, according to the 2nd Annual Benchmarking Telehealth Usage in Virginia survey from the Virginia Telehealth Network (VTN).

Those findings come alongside several areas for improvement related to internet connection, device access, and more.

VTN conducted the 2nd Annual Benchmarking Telehealth Usage in Virginia survey between January and March 2023 and compared this data to that of the inaugural survey that took place between October 2021 and November 2021.

These surveys aimed to dissect telehealth activity while considering provider backgrounds.

Of the 10,583 survey respondents, most (75.3 percent) use telehealth. Among users, 89.3 percent can offer patients a virtual option and 62.4 percent can improve patient care coordination.

Provider confidence levels are also seemingly on the rise. Data from this year indicated that 90 percent of providers were in agreement that telehealth is effective in providing care. This was up from 86 percent in 2021. Also, in 2023, 88 percent of providers were confident in the care quality of telehealth. This was up from 82 percent in 2021.

But still, there are some providers who aren’t using telehealth and view it skeptically. Among those who do not use telehealth, the most common reasons why relate to a lack of compatibility with their specialty (74 percent), skepticism related to quality (17 percent), and limited demand among patients (16 percent).

And these providers don’t seem to want to use telehealth in the future, either. If these providers were to adopt a type of telehealth, it’d be schedule video patient encounters, but those still don’t have much favor; only 35.2 percent of providers who aren’t already using telehealth said they consider this type of technology.

The report did reveal some areas where telehealth can improve.

In 2023, the leading category for improvement was interstate licensure. This year, 70.5 percent of providers cited issues surrounding this, up 3 percent from 2021. The top area for improvement among patients was internet connectivity, referred to as an issue by 73.5 percent. Although this portion was slightly higher at 78 percent in 2021, the share remains high.

Regarding the types of patients that survey respondents treat, 87 percent care for adults, 47 percent care for children, and 51 percent treat geriatric patients.

Regarding specialties, 47 percent were mental health providers, 14 percent were specialty care providers, 10 percent were rehabilitation therapists, and 10 percent were primary care providers.

The most common type of insurance telehealth providers accepted was commericial insurance, with 63 percent saying as much. Another 51 percent accepted Medicaid insurance, while 61 percent said they had self-pay patients.

Most providers (97.4 percent) who used telehealth used synchronous video. Meanwhile, a large share (76.3 percent) of users expressed concern over telehealth reimbursement relative to the conclusion of the public health emergency.

In January, the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional tracker indicated that telehealth use increased across the US. This rise took place on the national lists along with those of all US Census regions.

Regarding diagnoses, the tracker indicated that COVID-19 was not at the top of any list. Its only appearances were in fourth place in the South and third in the Northeast and Nationally.