Forty-eight percent of physicians are using telemedicine technology to continue treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent Merritt Hawkins report.
For its Physicians and COVID-19 report, Merritt Hawkins and The Physicians Foundation surveyed 842 physicians across the U.S. to determine how they are being affected by and responding to the pandemic. About one-third of survey respondents practice primary care medicine while the remaining two thirds are surgical, medical and diagnostic specialists.
Nearly half of physicians said they are using telemedicine to conduct visits, up from 18 percent of physicians who were using telemedicine to treat patients in 2018, according to the Physician's Foundation's 2018 Survey of America's Physicians.
Of the respondents, 34 percent said they are seeing a few patients and have extra time and abilities to see more. Fifteen percent of physicians said they are feeling little stress and are positive about their ability to continue providing care, while 18 percent said they feel moderately stressed and are concerned with their ability to continue providing care. Some physicians said they are feeling great stress, but 18 percent said they will be able to continue providing care while 1.5 percent said they will not be able to continue providing care.