Poll: Seniors ready to Skype docs, worry about care quality
Red flags? A nurse immediately calls, a form of telemedicine that is helping Kramer live independently by keeping his congestive heart failure under tight control.
"It's reassuring both psychologically and physically. The way he's put it to me, it's like having a doctor appointment every morning," said
The vast majority of older Americans and their caregivers are ready to give virtual health care a try: Nearly 9 in 10 adults age 40 and over would be comfortable using at least one type of telemedicine for themselves or an aging loved one, says a new poll from
But they want to make sure that an e-visit or other remote care is just as good as they'd get in person, and that their health information stays private, according to the survey released Thursday.
Long considered an option mainly for improving access to health care in rural areas with few doctors, telemedicine is gaining ground with tech-savvy younger consumers — they text their physician with questions or
But while private insurance often covers a video visit or other digital health care, seniors have had a harder time because Medicare tightly restricts what it will pay for.
That's starting to change, with a law
"While the interest is huge, one of the big barriers remains reimbursement," said
Costs are a major issue for people who need ongoing living assistance. Less than a third of adults age 40 and over have set aside any money for their future long term care needs, the AP-NORC survey shows, and more than half mistakenly think they'll be able to rely on Medicare to help cover nursing care or home health aides.
Telemedicine will have to replace in-person care, not add to it, to help with those costs, cautioned Zimmer-Galler.
As access for seniors promises to grow, the AP-NORC Center poll shows widespread interest in telehealth. More than half of adults of all ages would be comfortable with a video visit via
In fact, adults 40 and older are just as open to at least some forms of telemedicine as those under 40, with one exception: The older crowd is slightly less comfortable discussing health care by text.
Among caregivers, 87 percent say they'd be interested in using at least one form of telemedicine for that person's medical needs.
"I think the parents would be happier at home instead of being in the doctor's office waiting an hour to see a doctor for 15 minutes," said
Just 12 percent of adults say they wouldn't use any form of telemedicine.
There are concerns. More than 30 percent of people worry about privacy or the security or health information. About half fear that telemedicine could lead to lower-quality care, the poll found.
"It's not about having a video screen or
The Hopkins program provides no-cost monitoring for a month or two to select high-risk patients after a hospitalization because research found it reduces their chances of readmission.
When the monitor recorded Kramer's weight creeping up one week, nurses immediately knew it was fluid build-up, a heart failure symptom that needed quick treatment. The machine is programmed for some educational feedback, too.
Dubin says her dad learned quickly when to cut back. "If he enjoys a pastrami sandwich one day, he can see his numbers may be higher the next day."
Dubin says the reassurance was worth privately paying, about
The survey was conducted
It involved interviews in English and Spanish with 1,945 adults, including 1,522 adults age 40 and over, who are members of NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the
Online:
AP-NORC long term care polls: http://www.longtermcarepoll.org/
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