Telehealth Makes Doctors Visits Simpler, But Not Uncomplicated

When we say the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the healthcare industry, we’re not just talking about the massive public health crisis.

The pandemic also saw a vast shift toward the use of telehealth, something only 17% of patients used before COVID-19, and 47% reported using when the crisis began.

It also changed the way people pay for healthcare, with digital channels playing a much smaller role, according to a recent study.

Among the frequent digital payment methods were contactless debit and credit cards, mobile wallets and online portals or bill payment, with 20% fewer patients paying at the provider’s office.

But despite the convenience of telemedicine, cost and reimbursement issues — for both providers and consumers — have arisen as powerful challenges requiring solutions to ensure the future of these services.

Among the biggest points of contentions for providers? Medicaid and Medicare have not reimbursed telehealth the same way they do on-site visits. Patients have also reported issues such as service limitations and trouble getting access to remote care.

A 2021 survey found that patient satisfaction with telehealth services fell from the year before, with patients citing limited services and lack of awareness of costs as some of the most common hurdles to access.

And a recent study by PYMNTS confirmed that costs continued to limit consumer access to telehealth over the last 12 months. One third of the consumers we surveyed reported having to opt out of appointments or abandoning necessary medical care, mostly due to cost-related reasons: 43% of those who opted out of visits were concerned about the cost, 40% said they could not afford the care or treatment and 26% said their visit wasn’t covered by their insurance.

To find out what providers can do to address these challenges, download the Telehealth Digital Payments Report, a PYMNTS and American Express collaboration.