Figure 2 Thinking of the Time Period Since January 1, 2021, Were Any of the Visits With One of the Following? Had at Least 1 Telemedicine Visit Since the Beginning of the Year A Health Provider or Doctor That We Have Seen 62% February 3, 2022, #423 Before or Have Relationship With Already A New Health Provider or Doctor in a Practice or Hospital System That We Are Familiar With or Have 23% Visited in Person Telemedicine Importance Increased A New Health Provider or Doctor That We Never Met During the COVID-19 Pandemic Prior/Not Part of Your Practice or Hospital, Not 17% Related to the Health Plan’s Telemedicine Program/Partners The percentage of adults with private health insurance reporting that telemedicine was an extremely important option for getting medical care more than doubled between 2017 and 2021, according to results from the A New Health Provider Recommended by the Health 12% Employee Plan Thr Bene oughf Ii tst R Teles eme ear dicch ine P Irnst ogram itut /Partners e (EBRI) and Greenwald Research’s Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey. Not Sure/Prefer Not to Answer 7% In 2021, 17 percent of adults reported that a telemedicine option was extremely important, up from 7 percent in 2017 (Figure 1). Overall, however, those reporting that telemedicine was important to any degree remained steady between 2017 and 2020, with fewer reporting it was somewhat important in 2021 vs. 2017. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Source: EBRI/Greenwald Research Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey, 2021. Figure 1 How Do You Rate the Importance of Having Telemedicine as an Option Other findings from the survey: for Getting Medical Care in Certain Situations? • Satisfaction with the quality of telemedicine visits is good. Three-quarters were either very satisfied (35 2017 2020 2021 45% percent) or somewhat satisfied (42 percent). • High-deductible health plan enrollees are more likely than traditional health plan enrollees to report that 39% 40% they are very likely to use telemedicine in the future. 34% 35% It remains to be seen how important the role of telemedicine will be in a post-pandemic world. Similarly, more 30% research is needed on the impact of telemedicine on patients’ health status, the downstream impact on in-person 30% health care sought, and the spending and price differences in telemedicine services relative to in-person services. EBRI will continue to leverage surveys as well as empirical data to answer these questions. 25% 21% 21% 20% 20% More information about the EBRI/Greenwald Research Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey can be 20% found online. 17% 16% 15% 15% The 2021 Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey is an online survey of 2,411 Americans ages 21–64 12% 12% 12% 10% with private health insurance coverage. It was fielded in August and September of 2020. The survey is 10% made possible with funding support from the following organizations: Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, 7% 7% 6% Carefirst, HealthEquity, Prudential Financial, Segal, TIAA, UMB Financial, and Voya Financial. 5% The Emp loyee Benefit Research Institute is a private, nonpartisan, and nonprofit research institute based in 0% Washington, D.C., that focuses on health, savings, retirement, and economic security issues. EBRI does not lobby Extremely Important Very Important Somewhat Important Not Too Important Not at All Important Not Sure and does not take policy positions. The work of EBRI is made possible by funding from its members and Source: EBRI/Greenwald Research Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey, 2017, 2020–2021. sponsors, which include a broad range of public and private organizations. For more information visit www .ebri.org. Telemedicine visits generally occurred with known providers outside of a telemedicine program. Nearly two- G thi ree rds nw (62 p ald R eres cent ear )ch of adu is a l le tsadi repo ng ritnd ed t epe hat nd the entt e cus lem toed mi r ces ine v eari ch sitf w irm as wi and th a h consea ullttih ng p par rovitd ne er r t or o do the ct hea or tlhat th and they had se wea en b lth i efn odus re o tr r ha ies d a thatr ap elat pl io ies nshi crp w eatiiv th e qua alrea nt dy ita ( tiF ve a igur nd e 2qual ). Thi itat s i ive s up me fr to hod m 50 s to per hel ce p nt com in 2017. panies s Otn ay ly 12 com per petce itin vte and navigate industry change. Leveraging deep subject matter expertise and a consultative approach, Greenwald reported that the visit was with a new health provider recommended by the health plan through its telemedicine of prf ogr ers am com /pa pr rte ner hens s. ive services to answer strategic business questions. For more information, go to www.greenwaldresearch.com EBRI’s on Twitter! @EBRI or http://twitter.com/EBRI EBRI blog: https://ebriorg.wordpress.com/ EBRI on Twitter: @EBRI or http://twitter.com/EBRI Blog: https://ebriorg.wordpress.com/ © 2022, Employee Benefit Research Institute, 901 D St. SW, Suite 802, Washington, DC 20024, 202/659-0670 www.ebri.org 2