PERCEPTION AND UTILIZATION OF TELEHEALTH SERVICES AMONG HOME HEALTH CARE AGENCIES: A NATIONAL SURVEY

Despite the widely known effectiveness of telehealth services in screening and treating both chronic disease and depression in older adults, their adoption among home health care agencies has been slow. This study examined home health care staff perceptions and use of telehealth for chronic disease and depression care among older patients. Five hundred and sixteen staff from member home health care agencies of the National Association for Homecare and Hospice (NAHC) completed an online survey. The survey comprised of 33 questions and was informed by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Model. HHC agencies that reported using telehealth, telephone (63%) and remote-monitoring devices (56%) were the most utilized technology. Telehealth services included monitoring of health services (64%), chronic disease management (58%), and patient health education (43%). Overall, there was a positive perception towards telehealth for patient care. However, telehealth was perceived more positively for chronic disease management (90.7%) than for depression care (53%). A majority of participants (74%) reported having the knowledge necessary to use telehealth for chronically ill patients while only 32% did for depressed patients. Results suggest that although there is a positive perception towards telehealth for patient care, however, there are other factors (e.g. lack of resources and reimbursement, training and buy-in) that affect agencies’ adoption of telehealth. Therefore, further education and training is needed to support telehealth use for depression care. Future studies may consider comparing existing telehealth programs and identifying policies and regulations that are supportive of such programs.