Study: Quality of urgent care by commercial telehealth providers varies widely

The quality of urgent care treatment varies widely among commercial providers of virtual doctor visits, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, and elsewhere trained 67 patients to present six common acute illnesses to eight companies providing telemedicine services.

The ailments included ankle pain, potential strep, sore throat, sinus infection, low back pain and urinary tract infections. The study involved 599 virtual visits to Ameridoc, Amwell, Consult a Doctor, Doctor on Demand, MDAligne, MDLIVE, MeMD and NowClinic.

The researchers found that one in four patients got an incorrect or no diagnosis from the virtual visits. Virtual doctors got complete histories and did thorough exams anywhere from 52 percent to 82 percent of the time.

"One of the more surprising findings of the study was the universally low rate of testing when it was needed," lead researcher Adam Schoenfeld, M.D., of UCSF, told Reuters.

Mode of communication--such as Web chat or videoconference--didn't appear to influence how often treatment guidelines were followed. In addition, variation across providers was significantly greater for sore throat and sinus infection than for the other ailments.

Sixty-four percent of patients surveyed by Harris Poll on behalf of telehealth company American Well said they were willing to consider a video chat with their doctor instead of an in-person visit. However, a majority of respondents to a poll by TechnologyAdvice Research reported being wary of telemedicine and distrustful of a virtual diagnosis.

To learn more:
- check out the research
- read the Reuters story