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Telemedicine Use Among Physicians by Physician Specialty: United States, 2021
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02/01/2024
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Series: NCHS Data Briefs
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Description:The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to an increase in telemedicine use among physicians, from 15.4% in 2019 to 86.5% in 2021 (1–4). Interest has increased in how telemedicine has affected a physician’s ability to deliver quality care similar to an in-person office visit, and in technological barriers to telemedicine use (5). This report describes telemedicine use and challenges among physicians sampled in the 2021 National Electronic Health Records Survey. This report builds upon previous work (4) and describes the use of telemedicine, ability to provide quality care during telemedicine visits, satisfaction with telemedicine, and appropriateness of telemedicine use by physician specialty type.
Key findings: Data from the National Electronic Health Records Survey
● More medical specialists (27.4%) used telemedicine for 50% of their patient visits or more than primary care physicians and surgical specialists.
● Most primary care physicians (76.7%) and medical specialists (73.1%) were able to provide a similar quality of care during telemedicine visits as in-person visits “to some extent or a great extent” compared with about one-half of surgical specialists (50.6%).
● Primary care and medical specialists were more likely to be satisfied with telemedicine technology compared with surgical specialists.
● Surgical specialists were most likely to indicate that telemedicine technology was not appropriate for their specialty or patients (49.7%), followed by medical specialists (26.7%) and primary care physicians (15.5%).
Suggested citation: Myrick KL, Mahar M, DeFrances CJ. Telemedicine use among physicians by physician specialty: United States, 2021. NCHS Data Brief, no 493. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2024. DOI: https://dx.doi. org/10.15620/cdc:141934.
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