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   Evaluation by Providers

Providers using the AFHCAN software have responded to evaluation questions while conducting more than 13,000 store-and-forward telehealth cases. Providers were asked a single question when creating or responding to a store-and-forward telemedicine case. Following the creation of a case, the initiator was asked one of a pool of 10 possible questions. This resulted in at least 600 responses per question on topics covering patient and provider satisfaction, patient education, access to care, quality of care, and ease of use. Most questions are designed to ask the provider to rate their response to a statement, using a 1-5 Likert scale (from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree”). An example of five such statements (n = the corresponding number of responses), are: “Telemedicine will improve the QUALITY OF CARE for this patient” (n=700) “Telemedicine improved PATIENT SATISFACTION” (n=657) “The telemedicine system played a role in EDUCATING THIS PATIENT” (n-723) “Telemedicine makes my JOB MORE FUN” (n-867) “Telemedicine helps me COMMUNICATE with a doctor” (n=785) The resultant ratings of these five statements are shown in the table below.

Overall, responses to these questions elicited agreement (“Agree” or “Strongly Agree”) at least 70% of the time. The most overwhelming response is the 91% agreement that “telemedicine helps me communicate with a doctor”, and perhaps the most surprising is that 79% agreed that “Telemedicine makes my job more fun”. Unlike the provider that initiates a case, the consultant (provider receiving a case) was asked the same question each time they reviewed a case: “Did viewing this telemedicine case/image affect PATIENT TRAVEL for diagnosis or treatment of this case (compared to a phone consult”? (n=5317)

The summary of 5,317 responses to this question is shown on the plot at the left. Respondents were primarily physicians who indicated that store-and-forward telemedicine prevented travel 37% of the time, caused travel 8% of the time and had no effect 55% of the time. “Each village trip I receive innumerable positive "amazing" comments from patients and parents about how wonderful this technology is for them. … I think the advanced cutting edge technology of telemedicine has actually kept my professional interest in staying within this region. It is a tool that is not offered in many audiological facilities.” Philip Hofstetter, Audiologist, Norton Sound Regional Health Corporation