Measuring Telehealth Satisfaction: J.D. Power Study Finds Early Adopters Love It

by Clive Riddle, November 1, 2019

Telehealth use has progressed to the point where J.D. Power now has added the category to items included in their consumer satisfaction studies. The J.D. Power 2019 Telehealth Satisfaction Study finds that while “nationwide consumer adoption of telehealth services has been stubbornly low, with just 10% of healthcare consumers having used such services,” among those early adopters who are using telehealth, customer satisfaction with the experience ranks among the highest of any consumer category studied by J.D. Power.”

Greg Truex, Managing Director, Health Intelligence at J.D. Power offers this perspective: “Early attempts at trying to convince consumers to bank via their phone failed, and initiatives were abruptly canceled. Now, with mobile banking apps having grown to become the third-most-used application among consumers, we expect telehealth to follow a similar path. Telehealth offers an alternative avenue to receive quality care that is cost efficient and accessible. Once providers and payers refine the formula for awareness and adoption, telehealth will change the landscape of how affordable and quality care is delivered.”

J.D. Power found “the overall customer satisfaction score for telehealth services is 851 (on a 1,000-point scale), and is 900 or higher among 46% of telehealth users.,” and that “these customer satisfaction scores are among the highest of all healthcare, insurance and financial services industry studies conducted by J.D. Power. Only direct banking customer satisfaction ranks higher, with an average score of 855.”

Among direct-to-consumer brands, Teladoc ranked highest with a score of 870. Followed by Doctor on Demand (867) and MDLIVE (847). Among payers of health plan-provided telehealth services, Humana ranks highest with a score of 864, followed by Kaiser (863) and Cigna (862).

 

Additional J.D. Power study findings included:

• 65% of telehealth users used the service because they received a positive recommendation from others, including friend, family or colleague (22%); health plan (21%); primary care doctor (20%); employer (18%); or health plan, hospital, or another provider (15%).
• Among consumers who have not used telehealth, 29% indicate that telehealth is not available to them and 37% say they do not know if it is offered by their health provider or health system.
• Self-reported availability is lowest in rural areas (25%).
• 84% of telehealth users were able to completely resolve their medical concern(s) during their visit 
• 73% of users did not experience any issues or problems during their service.
• 49% of users say there were no barriers that made using telehealth difficult.
• 87% of users describe the enrollment process as somewhat/very easy.
• Users averaged 44 minutes for their entire experience, including: 17 minutes to complete the enrollment process, 9 minutes to wait for a physician or nurse practitioner and 18 minutes for the actual consultation.