92% of plan members said the Kaiser clinician on the digital visit was familiar with their medical history and 89% were interested in a future video visit

Kaiser Permanente patients apparently like the results they are getting from digital doctor visits, according to new research from the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research.

Kaiser, one of the nation’s biggest healthcare systems with 39 hospitals and 12.3 million members, recently surveyed 1,274 plan members in northern California and says 90% of the respondents “were confident in the quality of care received, reported that the provider was familiar with their medical history, and felt that their healthcare needs were adequately addressed.”

Members seem to be saying, ‘I use FaceTime with my daughter or video-conference at work, so I can do a video visit with my doctor.

Kaiser, which has about 4.4 million plan members in northern California, offers patients multiple telehealth options, including by phone, secure e-mail and video. Patients, in particular, were satisfied with the quality of doctor visits, Kaiser says.

For example, 92% of plan members said the Kaiser clinician on the digital visit was familiar with their medical history and 89% were interested in a future video visit. 87% of plan members said the video visit was more convenient than other ways of getting care, and 84% said a digital office visit improved their relationship with their physician.

“This is the first large study of patient experiences integrating video visits into primary care with existing providers,” says Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research scientist Mary Reed. “This is unique because while various other consumer telemedicine services offer the opportunity to go online and talk to a doctor, usually that doctor is not the same one that they have been seeing in person, nor does the doctor have full access to their whole medical record.”

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Patients, in particular, like the convenience of digital and video doctor visits, Kaiser says.  For example, 35% of members says digital appointments reduced the need to make inconvenient arrangements for traditional office visits. “Members seem to be saying, ‘I use FaceTime with my daughter or video-conference at work, so I can do a video visit with my doctor,” Reed says.

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