Patient Satisfaction and Healthcare Utilization Using Telemedicine in Liver Transplant Recipients.
BACKGROUND
Post-liver transplantation care is limited to tertiary care centers. Concentration at expert centers leads to high-volume clinics with long wait times and decreased accessibility.


AIM
To assess whether telemedicine can be utilized to overcome barriers to care while sustaining strong patient-physician relationships.


METHODS
The Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-18, Telemedicine Satisfaction Questionnaire, and Health Utilization Questionnaire were used to assess patient satisfaction and healthcare utilization among patients who received care via video connection (telemedicine group) and in clinic (control group). Propensity matching was performed. Scores for questionnaires were reported as mean and standard deviations (SD) and were compared by one-way multivariate analysis of variance and one-way analysis of variance.


RESULTS
There were 21 matched telemedicine patients in our study. Overall mean age (± SD) was 51 (± 5.62) years and 52 (± 6.12) years for telemedicine group and control group, respectively. General patient satisfaction was similar between the two groups (p = 0.89). While telemedicine patients were just as satisfied with communication and interpersonal approach compared to clinic patients, they experienced significantly less commute (p < 0.0001) and waiting (p < 0.0001) times. Given ease of using telemedicine without compromising patient-physician interaction, 90% (19/21) of the telemedicine patients opted to use the service again.


CONCLUSION
Telemedicine appeared to be both a time and cost-saving alternative to clinic follow-up without compromise of the valuable patient-physician relationship. Telemedicine has the potential to improve clinic flow, reduce wait times, and decrease costs for liver transplant recipients.
['Le|Long B|LB|', 'Rahal|Harman K|HK|', 'Viramontes|Matthew R|MR|', 'Meneses|Katherine G|KG|', 'Dong|Tien S|TS|', 'Saab|Sammy|S|']
D005260:Female D005500:Follow-Up Studies D006801:Humans D016031:Liver Transplantation D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care D017060:Patient Satisfaction D010817:Physician-Patient Relations D012189:Retrospective Studies D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D017216:Telemedicine D066027:Transplant Recipients
Telemedicine Post-liver transplant Follow-up