Among the pandemic’s legacies, its transformative impact on the acceptance and use of telehealth may be the most enduring for the healthcare system.

This follow-up survey of Louisiana’s Medicaid providers is the third in a series that began in the early days of the pandemic in April 2020 and was repeated in December of that year. The results indicate a continuation of previous trends of increased adoption and reveal remarkable stability for telehealth’s roles and challenges.

The survey was fielded between October 26 and December 6, after the Delta variant’s surge has subsided but prior to the Omicron surge that would sweep across the nation later that month and into January. This fortunate timing in the lull of COVID surges gives us a more accurate window into telehealth’s long-term place in the Medicaid healthcare delivery system than research during a surge might have.

Key findings include:

• 83% of providers using telehealth are satisfied or very satisfied with telehealth
• The most common issues experience with telehealth remain unchanged, with connection stability, patient ability and video issues as the top three
• Provider opinions are shifting toward seeing telehealth as a permanent part of their practice. Between 2020 and 2021, the percentage of providers who saw telehealth as a permanent part of their practice (rather than a temporary solution) increased from from 67% to 72%. Those who saw it as a temporary solution decreased from 18% to 15%.

Read the full survey findings >>