White Paper Reference Number Date 2020
HELP SEEKING ADULTS RECEPTIVE TO TELEHEALTH AS COMPLEMENT TO IN-PERSON CARE Author: Lise Henningsen, Head of Audiology
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, telehealth has emerged as an important component of the fight to slow the spread of the virus. Telehealth services, available for several years but largely underutilized, have helped to ease the burden on traditional healthcare systems by encouraging patients with mild or moderate ailments, including hearing loss, to seek help via virtual web-based applications. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US telehealth market is expected to witness over 80% YOY growth in 2020.1 In response to the pandemic, health service providers around the US have ramped up telehealth services to connect healthcare providers and patients remotely. In March, when state governments began implementing social distancing and shelter-in-place measures to contain the pandemic, telehealth services became an effective tool for healthcare management. Early on, because telehealth services were not popular among most patients, healthcare professionals were unsure how patients would receive these virtual services. Now, several months after the first social distancing and shelter-in-place guidelines went into place, healthcare professionals are finding that many Americans have utilized telehealth services, and most appear to like it. A recent nationwide survey of 2,000 adults found that 42% WSA.COM
have used telehealth services since the beginning of the pandemic. A remarkable 82% of survey respondents reported they like using telehealth services. Of those respondents who like using telehealth services, 65% said they like it because the visits are more convenient than meeting their healthcare provider in an office, while 63% said they like not having to worry about exposure to other potentially sick patients. Further, 38% said they liked the streamlined nature of follow-up appointments and other communication with their healthcare provider, while 51% said that if they were to use telehealth services post COVID-19, convenience would be most important reason why they would continue to use it. 2 Other reports suggest patients believe telehealth services are easy to use, convenient and helpful.3,4,5 Although these survey responses and anecdotal reports indicate many Americans like telehealth services once they become familiar with them, the generalizability of these results to adults with hearing loss is uncertain. Given an average age of first-time hearing aid use of 67 years6, adults with hearing loss tend to represent an older cohort than the previously cited reports. Because adults with hearing loss tend to skew older, it is possible some are reluctant to use telehealth services, or some could be less likely to own smartphones or laptop computers, essential components to the WS Audiology White Paper