GAINESVILLE, FL (352today.com)—A recent study by the University of Florida suggests that diabetic patients are just as comfortable with telehealth appointments as with in-person care.
In a study led by Dr. Young-Rock Hong, an assistant professor in the university’s College of Public Health and Health Professions, diabetic patients using telehealth reported the same level of quality care, faith in the health care system, and patient-centered communication as those receiving in-person care.
The university began the study in 2022 when telehealth remained popular during the peak days of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“As a researcher, we saw this as a huge opportunity to assess the implementation of telehealth,” said Hong.
Hong says the characteristics in his team’s findings are based on a nationwide analysis involving 1,116 US adults living with diabetes, representing 33.6 million individuals.
According to their findings, 48.1% of patients with Type 1 or 2 diabetes reported using telehealth in the past year. The demographic users were younger, mostly women, with a higher income, and “urban dwellers.” The findings yielded no significant differences across race, education, or location.
39.3% of telehealth users reported having video-only conferences, with 35% having voice-only and 25.7% using both.
According to research, the main motivations for seeking telehealth care were provider recommendations, convenience, COVID-19 avoidance, and guidance on in-person care needs.
The findings ultimately concluded that patient-reported care quality was similar between telehealth and in-person visits. Hong thinks this is due to telehealth utilizing technology to its advantage.
“I think they’re paying attention to technological development and are implementing many features such as integrating chatbots onto their platforms,” said Hong. “Healthcare systems are giving diabetic patients wearable devices where they can monitor blood pressure and blood sugar level from the device… They can directly put this information into their patients’ portal so they can remotely monitor them.”
A glaring problem for Hong was telehealth’s lack of reach to older diabetic patients; adults 65 and under were reportedly less likely to use telehealth than those aged 18-49.
Hong hopes his team’s findings can help expand telehealth to elderly diabetics.
“We think that our findings will support the continuation and expansion of voice-only telehealth services to the elderly population,” said Hong. “I think there’s momentum with telehealth–I think change is inevitable in coming years or months, especially for the elderly population and those covered in the medicare system,” said Hong.
Hong cited a recent study by team members that found most U.S. physicians support telehealth.
“We used physician survey data from a previous study to assess their intention or willingness to expand their telehealth program after the pandemic; we found more than 80% of U.S. physicians who are practicing are very positive about expanding their telehealth program,” said Hong.
With support from the medical world, Hong hopes that changes are made to increase broadband infrastructure to allow for reliable telehealth visits.
“Long-term popularity of telehealth will depend on ongoing policy support, reimbursement structures, and how well it’s integrated into routine diabetes care practices,” Hong said.
The findings highlighted problems with privacy concerns, technology difficulties, and care coordination issues as the three main barriers to adequate telehealth adoption.
“From a patient’s level, if they do not have any resources or accessibility to telehealth, it’s going to be useless… I think that’s something we need to address,” said Hong. “Diabetes patients require surveillance and continuity in their care… I believe telehealth will help them address issues such as access to care and equity issues.”