Patient and Physician Attitudes Towards Teleneuropsychology (teleNP) Evaluations during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: As consumer-facing telemedicine platforms become more integrated into healthcare, the use of teleassessment has become a viable modality for patient care. There have only been a handful of studies that examine telehealth assessment in patient’s home. An important factor in the successful implementation of telemedicine is an understanding of the potential user and factors that may influence their decision to be involved in tele-assessment.

Objectives: The present study was designed to determine patient satisfaction, experience, preference, and the technical quality of teleassessment to home. The second part of the study examined how providers receiving the reports view the accuracy and usefulness of the assessment.

Methods: A 14-item survey was developed to measure teleNP participants’ perceptions of satisfaction and usefulness. The goal for the instrument development process was to create and/or adapt items that addressed specific teleassessment components as well as overall satisfaction with the teleNP to home process. A second 12-item survey was developed to measure referring provider’s perceptions of satisfaction and usefulness of neuropsychology teleassessment to home.

Results: Initial results indicate overall patient and provider satisfaction with teleNP services. Patients have much lower awareness and report less familiarity with technology than medical professionals, though they have generally positive attitudes towards telehealth. The majority of patients prefer virtual visits for convenience and safety (i.e., to avoid exposure to COVID-19), but many report that they believe in-person treatment would be more accurate. Several patients indicated that they would continue to use telehealth services for non-urgent consultations. Physicians believe that virtual teleNP results provide comparable care.

Conclusions: The perceptions and attitudes identified in this study will be useful for establishing and developing a teleNP system in the US. Overall patients and referring physicians have been satisfied with the quality of teleNP testing. Given preferences for in-person visits, however, treatment teams should continue to provide in-person visits for many of their patients.