High patient satisfaction with both telehealth and in-person new patient visits at a large academic fertility center

Abstract

Objective

To identify differences in patient satisfaction between individuals who had in-person vs. telemedicine consultations at our large academic institution’s ambulatory fertility clinic.

Design

This cross-sectional study involved distribution of an electronic survey, including questions to assess demographic factors and graded satisfaction metrics, to all patients at Penn Fertility Care.

Subjects

Eligible respondents were self-screened to include only patients ≥18 years old who had a new patient visit between January 2019 and July 2024.

Exposure

Type of consultation: telemedicine vs. in-person.

Main Outcome Measures

Patient satisfaction, assessed using graded satisfaction metrics and evaluated using χ² tests and adjusted regression models to assess the impact of consultation type.

Results

Surveys were disseminated to 6,660 patients via patient portal messages. Of 505 patients who read the messages, 464 (91.6%) completed the survey. There was no significant difference in overall patient satisfaction between in-person and telemedicine respondents, with high levels of satisfaction in each group (87.0% in-person, 82.0% telemedicine). Patients who had telemedicine consultations were less likely to report improved access to care compared with those with in-person visits (odds ratio 0.60, 95% confidence interval: 0.38–0.95). Subgroup analyses demonstrated that patients with infertility preferred in-person visits, whereas patients undergoing planned oocyte cryopreservation favored telemedicine consultations.

Conclusion

Although telemedicine plays a valuable role in fertility care, it is important to continue to offer in-person visits as an option, particularly for patients experiencing infertility. To optimize patient satisfaction, clinics should remain flexible and consider tailoring the types of visits offered to meet the unique preferences and needs of their patients.