U.S. Physicians' concerns on what prevents patient telehealth use 2020

As of August 2020, the top concerns of U.S. physicians about what prevents patient telehealth use were technology challenges, such as a patient's access to technology/ internet or their low digital literacy. Rural physicians, compared to urban, were more likely to perceive a lack of patient access to technology as a barrier.

Perceived barriers to patient telehealth access according to physicians in the U.S. in 2020, by rurality

Characteristic	Urban	Suburban	Rural
Lack of patient access to technology	70.9%	72.8%	77.7%
Lack of digital literacy in patient	62.8%	65.3%	67.6%
Lack of patient access to broadband/internet	61.1%	59%	71.6%
Patient preference for in-person visits	55.3%	59.9%	59.5%
Lack of patient access to data access	38.8%	35.1%	46.6%
Lack of patient awareness/understanding of telehealth offerings	37.3%	36.2%	43.2%
Lack of health insurance	25.8%	25.8%	24.3%
Lack of access to community-based resources	15.1%	11.7%	20.3%
All of the above	10.2%	7.2%	13.5%
Other	4.5%	2.7%	1.4%
No barriers known	2.9%	3%	2%

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Release date

November 2020

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

July 13 to August 15, 2020

Number of respondents

1,594 respondents

Special properties

Physicians and approx 13% non-physician healthcare providers

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

This question was phrased by the source as follows: “Which of the following, if any, do you perceive as barriers to your patients accessing telehealth?”. Multiple answers were possible.

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