Narek Shaverdian|Erin F. Gillespie|Elaine Cha|Soo Young Kim|Stephanie Benvengo|Fumiko Chino|Jung Julie Kang|Yuelin Li|Thomas M. Atkinson|Nancy Lee|Charles M. Washington|Oren Cahlon|Daniel R. Gomez
Impact of Telemedicine on Patient Satisfaction and Perceptions of Care Quality in Radiation Oncology
Institute of Behavioral Sciences|Institute of Behavioral Sciences|Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center|Institute of Behavioral Sciences
covid19 pandemic transformed cancer care rapid expansion telemedicine given limited use telemedicine oncology concerns raised quality care delivered assessed patient experience telemedicine routine radiation oncology practice determine satisfaction quality care opportunities optimizationpatients seen within multistate comprehensive cancer center prepandemic office visits intrapandemic telemedicine visits december 2019 june 2020 completed patient experience questionnaires evaluated patient satisfaction office telemedicine consultations compared patient visittype preferences assessed factors associated office visit preference determinedin total 1077 patients assessed office visit n726 telemedicine n351 telemedicineconsult survey response rate 40 significant differences seen satisfaction scores office telemedicine consultations including appointment experience versus expectation quality physicians explanation level physician concern friendliness among telemedicine survey respondents 45 34 preferred telemedicine office visits respectively 21 preference visit type respondents found confidence physician 90 understanding treatment plan 88 confidence treatment 87 better different office visit patients better performance status marriedpartnered likely prefer inperson office visit consultations odds ratio 104 95 ci 100108 p047 241 95 ci 114547 p009 respectively patients telephoneonly encounters likely report better treatment plan understanding office visit 225 95 ci 100477 p04this study first assess telemedicine routine radiation oncology practice found high patient satisfaction confidence care optimization telemedicine oncology priority specifically access audiovisual capabilities improve patientoncologist communication