The Research and Development Survey (RANDS) is a platform designed for conducting survey question evaluation and statistical research. RANDS is an ongoing series of surveys from probability-sampled commercial survey panels used for methodological research at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). RANDS estimates are generated using an experimental approach that differs from the survey design approaches generally used by NCHS, including possible biases from different response patterns and sampling frames as well as increased variability from lower sample sizes. Use of the RANDS platform allows NCHS to produce more timely data than would be possible using traditional data collection methods. RANDS is not designed to replace NCHS’ higher quality, core data collections. Below are experimental estimates of telemedicine access and use for three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19. Data collection for the three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19 occurred between June 9, 2020 and July 6, 2020, August 3, 2020 and August 20, 2020, and May 17, 2021 and June 30, 2021. Information needed to interpret these estimates can be found in the Technical Notes. RANDS during COVID-19 included questions about whether providers offered telemedicine (including video and telephone appointments) in the last 2 months—both during and before the pandemic—and about the use of telemedicine in the last 2 months during the pandemic. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many local and state governments discouraged people from leaving their homes for nonessential reasons. Although health care is considered an essential activity, telemedicine offers an opportunity for care without the potential or perceived risks of leaving the home. The National Health Interview Survey, conducted by NCHS, added telemedicine questions to its sample adult questionnaire in July 2020. The Household Pulse Survey (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/telemedicine-use.htm), an online survey conducted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by the Census Bureau in partnership with other federal agencies including NCHS, also reports estimates of telemedicine use during the pandemic (beginning in Phase 3.1, which started on April 14, 2021). The Household Pulse Survey reports telemedicine use in the last 4 weeks among adults and among households with at least one child under age 18 years. The experimental estimates on this page are derived from RANDS during COVID-19 and show the percentage of U.S. adults who have a usual place of care and a provider that offered telemedicine in the past 2 months, who used telemedicine in the past 2 months, or who have a usual place of care and a provider that offered telemedicine prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Technical Notes: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/rands/telemedicine.htm#limitations

Between April 2020 and March 2021, approximately 72 percent of the Spanish population had a received medical consultation from a doctor online or by phone due to the pandemic, the highest share across all European Union countries. Slovenia ranked second on the list with 65 percent of people in the country receiving a telemedicine consultation, followed by Poland at 62 percent.

In March 2021, approximately 86 percent of Americans surveyed reported that using telemedicine has made it easier to get the care they needed, while approximately 63 percent of the respondents who reported being afraid of going to the doctor said their fears were eased during their experience with telehealth.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in June 2021, 80 percent of the patients surveyed aged 56 years and above mention they prefer engaging with their healthcare provider face-to-face, the highest share across all the age groups. While 54 percent of those aged between 25 and 40 years of age indicated they would like to continue to use telemedicine as much as possible even after the pandemic ends.

The Research and Development Survey (RANDS) is a platform designed for conducting survey question evaluation and statistical research. RANDS is an ongoing series of surveys from probability-sampled commercial survey panels used for methodological research at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). RANDS estimates are generated using an experimental approach that differs from the survey design approaches generally used by NCHS, including possible biases from different response patterns and sampling frames as well as increased variability from lower sample sizes. Use of the RANDS platform allows NCHS to produce more timely data than would be possible using traditional data collection methods. RANDS is not designed to replace NCHS’ higher quality, core data collections. Below are experimental estimates of telemedicine access and use for three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19. Data collection for the three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19 occurred between June 9, 2020 and July 6, 2020, August 3, 2020 and August 20, 2020, and May 17, 2021 and June 30, 2021. Information needed to interpret these estimates can be found in the Technical Notes. RANDS during COVID-19 included questions about whether providers offered telemedicine (including video and telephone appointments) in the last 2 months—both during and before the pandemic—and about the use of telemedicine in the last 2 months during the pandemic. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many local and state governments discouraged people from leaving their homes for nonessential reasons. Although health care is considered an essential activity, telemedicine offers an opportunity for care without the potential or perceived risks of leaving the home. The National Health Interview Survey, conducted by NCHS, added telemedicine questions to its sample adult questionnaire in July 2020. The Household Pulse Survey (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/telemedicine-use.htm), an online survey conducted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by the Census Bureau in partnership with other federal agencies including NCHS, also reports estimates of telemedicine use during the pandemic (beginning in Phase 3.1, which started on April 14, 2021). The Household Pulse Survey reports telemedicine use in the last 4 weeks among adults and among households with at least one child under age 18 years. The experimental estimates on this page are derived from RANDS during COVID-19 and show the percentage of U.S. adults who have a usual place of care and a provider that offered telemedicine in the past 2 months, who used telemedicine in the past 2 months, or who have a usual place of care and a provider that offered telemedicine prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Technical Notes: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/rands/telemedicine.htm#limitations

According to a survey carried out among clinicians in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2021, 76 percent of respondents agreed that telehealth will make up the majority of patient care in the near future, although 68 percent reported they frequently had issues in delivering telehealth to patients.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), collects data on visits to physician offices to describe patterns of ambulatory care delivery in the United States. As part of NAMCS, the Physician Induction Interview collects information about practice characteristics at physician offices. Partway through the 2020 NAMCS, NCHS added questions to the Physician Induction Interview to assess physician experiences related to COVID-19 in office-based settings. The data include nationally representative estimates of experiences related to COVID-19 among office-based physicians in the United States, including: shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the past 3 months; the ability to test for COVID-19 in the past 3 months; providers testing positive for COVID-19 in the past 3 months; turning away COVID-19 patients in the past 3 months; and telemedicine or telehealth technology use before and after March 2020. Estimates were derived from interviews with physicians in periods 3 and 4 of 2020 NAMCS and periods 1 through 4 of 2021 NAMCS, which occurred between December 15, 2020 and May 6, 2022. The data are considered preliminary, and the results may change with the final data release.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), collects data from physician offices to describe practice characteristics and patterns of ambulatory care delivery in the United States. After the COVID-19 pandemic began, NCHS added questions to the 2020 and 2021 NAMCS Physician Induction Interview to evaluate physicians’ experiences related to the pandemic. Specifically, physicians in office-based settings were asked about: shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE); experiences with COVID-19 testing; providers in their office who tested positive for COVID-19; turning away COVID-19 patients; and telemedicine or telehealth technology use at their office. Measures related to these topic areas are further described and displayed in data dashboards here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/namcs.htm.

Analysis of ‘Access and Use of Telemedicine During COVID-19’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/62ae3836-5b7b-4d97-b8e7-7e853aa39df0 on 26 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

The Research and Development Survey (RANDS) is a platform designed for conducting survey question evaluation and statistical research. RANDS is an ongoing series of surveys from probability-sampled commercial survey panels used for methodological research at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). RANDS estimates are generated using an experimental approach that differs from the survey design approaches generally used by NCHS, including possible biases from different response patterns and sampling frames as well as increased variability from lower sample sizes. Use of the RANDS platform allows NCHS to produce more timely data than would be possible using traditional data collection methods. RANDS is not designed to replace NCHS’ higher quality, core data collections. Below are experimental estimates of telemedicine access and use for three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19. Data collection for the three rounds of RANDS during COVID-19 occurred between June 9, 2020 and July 6, 2020, August 3, 2020 and August 20, 2020, and May 17, 2021 and June 30, 2021. Information needed to interpret these estimates can be found in the Technical Notes. RANDS during COVID-19 included questions about whether providers offered telemedicine (including video and telephone appointments) in the last 2 months—both during and before the pandemic—and about the use of telemedicine in the last 2 months during the pandemic. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many local and state governments discouraged people from leaving their homes for nonessential reasons. Although health care is considered an essential activity, telemedicine offers an opportunity for care without the potential or perceived risks of leaving the home. The National Health Interview Survey, conducted by NCHS, added telemedicine questions to its sample adult questionnaire in July 2020. The Household Pulse Survey (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/telemedicine-use.htm), an online survey conducted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by the Census Bureau in partnership with other federal agencies including NCHS, also reports estimates of telemedicine use during the pandemic (beginning in Phase 3.1, which started on April 14, 2021). The Household Pulse Survey reports telemedicine use in the last 4 weeks among adults and among households with at least one child under age 18 years. The experimental estimates on this page are derived from RANDS during COVID-19 and show the percentage of U.S. adults who have a usual place of care and a provider that offered telemedicine in the past 2 months, who used telemedicine in the past 2 months, or who have a usual place of care and a provider that offered telemedicine prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Technical Notes: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/rands/telemedicine.htm#limitations

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

According to a survey carried out in the United States in 2021, three quarters of physicians had used telehealth to provide primary care visits, while 72 percent had carried out appointments for chronic care via telehealth. Furthermore, over a third of physicians reported to have used virtual care to provide mental health support.

As per Cognitive Market Research's latest published report, the Global Telemedicine market size was $76.59 Billion in year 2022 and will reach $396.14 Billion by 2029. Telemedicine Industry's Compound Annual Growth Rate will be 24.78% from 2022 to 2029. COVID-19 pandemic has driven telemedicine usage

In 2020, countries reported on average, about half of essential health services were disrupted. This has stimulated the provision of healthcare and communication services through distance-based technologies. Telemedicine was employed as a form of clinical collaboration by most doctors, expanding the range of communication and healthcare services in low- and middle-income settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Telemedicine encompasses consultations, procedures, storage and transmission of data and health information by means of sound, text or images. As it has been widely used during pandemic by maintaining physical isolation and avoiding direct physical contact, several innovations were made post pandemic which further accelerated the growth of telemedicine market. Healthcare is thus seeing a surge of direct-to-consumer telemedicine providers operating at a large scale helping to provide care to patients.

Growing adoption of smart devices coupled with rising internet connectivity

Over the last few years, there is a rapid increase in smart device adoption and internet penetration. Smart devices offer flexibility to patients on a smartphone or tablet. With a mobile device, users are simply able to access doctors and therapists. This rapid expansion has stimulated growth of telemedicine market. This demand is increasing substantially as internet penetration increases. With the advent of 4G and 5G, customers can now communicate with experts and watch high-resolution pictures.
According to a study, the number of unique mobile internet users in 2020 was 4.28 billion, and more than 90% of the worldwide internet population has access to the internet via a mobile device. Until March 2021, the internet penetration rate in Asia was at 62%, 88% in Europe, and 90% in North America. As a result, the growing adoption of smart devices coupled with rising internet connectivity is driving the growth of telemedicine market.

Current Trends on Telemedicine: Technology trends in boosting telemedicine market

Rising adoption of 5G has great potential to increase data consumption globally. It is expected to enable faster speeds of up to 20 gigabits per second (Gbps) per user, and to connect around one million devices per square kilometre. Thus, it will have potential impact on applications that rely on real-time data analytics. Besides, AI technology are helping to organise, screen, and analyse personal health data. As a result, it will help extract insights about healthcare trends, track patients over time, and forecast the likelihood of developing a disease.
Usage of wearable devices has increased now-a-days, which uses sensors to measure various vital signs such as heart rate, glucose levels, and blood pressure. This data is then transmitted for real-time feedback.

From almost 4 decades, telemedicine has made healthcare accessible to patients in remote locations. It thus allows doctors and healthcare facilities to reach out to institutions beyond their own network. It uses electronic communication to exchange medical information from one location to another one. Telemedicine has grown rapidly and has become an integrated part of specialty departments, hospitals, private doctor offices, home health care, and the consumer’s residence and workplace. Market for telemedicine boomed up during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is majorly attributed to a lack of in-person visits and limitations and restrictions on travel. Hence, mandatory social distancing and the lack of effective treatments has made telemedicine in becoming a very positive contributor to healthcare.

The National Electronic Health Records Survey (NEHRS) is an annual survey of non-federally employed, office-based physicians practicing in the United States (excluding those in the specialties of anesthesiology, radiology, and pathology). NEHRS began in 2008 and was originally designed as an annual mail supplement to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). Since 2012, NEHRS has been administered as a survey independent of NAMCS. Data from NEHRS can be used to produce state and national estimates of EHR adoption and capabilities, burden associated with EHRs, and progress physicians have made towards meeting the policy goals of the HITECH Act. In more recent years, survey questions have also asked about Promoting Interoperability programs, sponsored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), collects data from physician offices to describe practice characteristics and patterns of ambulatory care delivery in the United States. After the COVID-19 pandemic began, NCHS added questions to the 2020 and 2021 NAMCS Physician Induction Interview to evaluate physicians’ experiences related to the pandemic. Specifically, physicians in office-based settings were asked about: shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE); experiences with COVID-19 testing; providers in their office who tested positive for COVID-19; turning away COVID-19 patients; and telemedicine or telehealth technology use at their office. Measures related to these topic areas are further described and displayed in data dashboards here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/namcs.htm.

Analysis of ‘Telemedicine Usage in the US’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/jpmiller/telemedicine-usage-in-the-us on 30 September 2021.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

To rapidly monitor recent changes in the use of telemedicine, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA MCHB) partnered with the Census Bureau on an experimental data system called the Household Pulse Survey. This 20-minute online survey was designed to complement the ability of the federal statistical system to rapidly respond and provide relevant information about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

In early 2021, Brazil saw a dramatic recurrence in Covid-19 cases associated to the spread of a novel variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the P1 variant. In light of previous reports showing that this variant is more transmissible and more likely to infect people who had recovered from previous infection, a retrospective analysis was conducted to assess if the early 2021 Covid-19 wave in Brazil was associated with an increase in the number of individuals presenting with a more severe clinical course. Fifty-one thousand and fourteen individuals who underwent telemedicine consultations were divided into two groups: patients seen on or before January 31, 2021, and on or after February 1, 2021. These dates were chosen based on the spread of the P1 variant in Brazil. Referral to the emergency department (ED) was used as a marker of a more severe course of the disease. No differences were seen in the proportion of patients referred to the ED in each group nor in the odds ratio of being referred to the ED from the 1st of February 2021 (OR=0.909; 95%CI: 0.81-1.01). Considering the entire cohort, age had an impact on the odds of being referred to the ED, with individuals older than 59 years showing twice the risk of the remaining population and those less than 19 years showing a lower risk.

To rapidly monitor recent changes in the use of telemedicine, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA MCHB) partnered with the Census Bureau on an experimental data system called the Household Pulse Survey. This 20-minute online survey was designed to complement the ability of the federal statistical system to rapidly respond and provide relevant information about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.

The U.S. Census Bureau, in collaboration with five federal agencies, launched the Household Pulse Survey to produce data on the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on American households. The Household Pulse Survey was designed to gauge the impact of the pandemic on employment status, consumer spending, food security, housing, education disruptions, and dimensions of physical and mental wellness.

The survey was designed to meet the goal of accurate and timely estimates. It was conducted by an internet questionnaire, with invitations to participate sent by email and text message. The sample frame is the Census Bureau Master Address File Data. Housing units linked to one or more email addresses or cell phone numbers were randomly selected to participate, and one respondent from each housing unit was selected to respond for him or herself. Estimates are weighted to adjust for nonresponse and to match Census Bureau estimates of the population by age, sex, race and ethnicity, and educational attainment. All estimates shown meet the NCHS Data Presentation Standards for Proportions.

This is a real-world dataset from a large-scale, national telemedicine program for treatment of Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) that included patients with uncomplicated and complicated UTIs between 2017 and 2021. This dataset was originally utilized for a retrospective analysis evaluating UTI treatment and resolution rates among over 51,000 UTI telemedicine consultations. This analysis was included in an article entitled "Real-world evidence: Telemedicine for complicated cases of urinary tract infection" accepted for publication in PLOS ONE 01/2023. The primary outcomes analyzed for the published manuscript were the number of women who presented with symptoms of uncomplicated UTI, complicated UTI, and vaginal infection; prescription use and antibiotic type; symptom resolution within seven days after appointment; and treatment failure or relapse.

In 2021, ** percent of health insurance providers surveyed in Latin America offered telehealth services across all plans/portfolios to their clients, the highest regional share globally. On the other hand, ** percent of insurers from the Middle East and Africa region mentioned that currently they did not provide telehealth services through their current plans but expected it to be added in 2022.

This is a monthly report on publicly funded community services for people of all ages using data from the Community Services Data Set (CSDS) reported in England for October 2021. It has been developed to help achieve better outcomes and provide data that will be used to commission services in a way that improves health, reduces inequalities, and supports service improvement and clinical quality. This report uses the new version of the dataset, CSDS v1.5. As an uplift from v1.0, the v1.5 dataset collects additional data on a person's care plan details, employment status and social & personal circumstances. These statistics are classified as experimental and should be used with caution. Experimental statistics are new official statistics undergoing evaluation. More information about experimental statistics can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website. A supplementary file including health visiting metrics now accompanies this publication. Due to the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) disruption, the quality and coverage of some of our statistics has been affected, for example, by an increase in non-submissions for some datasets. We are also seeing some different patterns in the submitted data. For example, fewer patients are being referred to hospital and more appointments being carried out via phone/telemedicine/email. Therefore, data should be interpreted with care over the COVID-19 period.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic increase in telemedicine use for direct patient care. Inequities in device/internet access can limit the extent to which patients can engage with telemedicine care and exacerbate health disparities. In this review, we examined existing literature on interventions designed to improve patient telemedicine access by providing digital devices including tablets, smartphones, and computers and/or internet connectivity.MethodsIn this systematic scoping review, we searched four databases for peer-reviewed studies published 1/1/2000–10/19/2021 that described healthcare interventions that provided patients with devices and/or internet connectivity and reported outcomes related to telemedicine access and/or usage. Data extraction elements included: study population, setting, intervention design, details on device/connectivity provision, and outcomes evaluated.ResultsTwelve articles reflecting seven unique interventions met inclusion criteria. Ten articles examined telemedicine utilization (83%) and reported improved patient show rates/utilization. Seven articles examined patient satisfaction with the interventions (58%) and reported positive experiences. Fewer articles examined health outcomes (17%; 2/12) though these also demonstrated positive results. Across included studies, study quality was low. There were no controlled trials, and the most rigorously designed studies (n = 4) involved pre/post-intervention assessments.DiscussionFindings from this review indicate that providing material technology supports to patients can facilitate telemedicine access, is acceptable to patients and clinicians, and can contribute to improved health outcomes. The low number and quality of existing studies limits the strength of this evidence. Future research should explore interventions that can increase equitable access to telemedicine services.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=183442, identifier, PROSPERO: CRD42020183442.