• Maria I Danila, Dongmei Sun, Lesley E Jackson, Gary Cutter, Elizabeth A Jackson, Eric W Ford, Erin DeLaney, Amy Mudano, Phillip J Foster, Giovanna Rosas, Joshua A Melnick, Jeffrey R Curtis, and Kenneth G Saag.
• Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; Birmingham VA Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, USA. Electronic address: mdanila@uabmc.edu.
• Am. J. Med. Sci. 2022 Nov 1; 364 (5): 538546538-546.

BackgroundLittle is known about satisfaction with different modes of telemedicine delivery. The objective of this study was to determine whether patient satisfaction with phone-only was noninferior to video visits.MethodsWe conducted a parallel group, randomized (1:1), single-blind, noninferiority trial in multispecialty clinics at a tertiary academic medical center. Adults age ≥ 60 years or with Medicare/Medicaid insurance were eligible. Primary outcome was visit satisfaction rate (9 or 10 on a 0-10 satisfaction scale). Noninferiority was determined if satisfaction with phone-only (intervention) versus video visits (comparator) was no worse by a -15% prespecified noninferiority margin. We performed modified intent-to-treat (mITT) and per protocol analyses, after adjusting for age and insurance.Results200 participants, 43% Black, 68% women completed surveys. Visit satisfaction rates were high. In the mITT analysis, phone-only visits were noninferior by an adjusted difference of 3.2% (95% CI, -7.6% to 14%). In the per protocol analysis, phone-only were noninferior by an adjusted difference of -4.1% (95% CI, -14.8% to 6.6%). The proportion of participants who indicated they preferred the same type of telemedicine visit as their next clinic visit were similar (30.2% vs 27.9% video vs phone-only, p = 0.78) and a majority said their medical concerns were addressed and would recommend a telemedicine visit.ConclusionsAmong a group of diverse, established older or underserved patients, the satisfaction rate for phone-only was noninferior to video visits. These findings could impact practice and policies governing telemedicine.Published by Elsevier Inc.

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