Patient Experience of Telemedicine for Headache Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An American Migraine Foundation Survey Study

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the patient experience of telemedicine for headache care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Background: The use of telemedicine has rapidly expanded and evolved since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies have assessed the patient perspective of telemedicine for headache care. Design/Methods: The American Migraine Foundation (AMF) designed a standardized electronic questionnaire to assess the patient experience of telemedicine for headache care between March and September 2020. The questionnaire was distributed electronically to more than 100,000 members of the AMF community through social media platforms and the AMF email database. Results: 1172 patients responded to our electronic questionnaire, with 1098 complete responses. 648/1127 (57.5%) patients reported that they had used telemedicine for headache care during the study period. Among those who participated in telehealth visits, 553/647 (85.5%) patients used it for follow-up visits;94/647 (14.5%) patients used it for new patient visits. During the telemedicine encounters, patients were evaluated by headache specialists, general neurologists, primary care providers, and headache nurse practitioners. Only 47/633 (7.4%) patients received a new headache diagnosis from telemedicine evaluation, whereas 586/633 (92.6%) patients did not have a change in their diagnoses. During these visits, a new treatment was prescribed for 358/636 (52.3%) patients, whereas 278/636 (43.7%) patients did not. The number (%) of patients who rated the telemedicine headache care experience as “very good,” “good,” “fair,” “poor,” and “other” were 396/638 (62.1%), 132/638 (20.7%), 67/638 (10.5%), 23/638 (3.6%), and 20/638 (3.1%), respectively. Most patients, 573/638 (89.8%), indicated that they would prefer to continue to use telemedicine for their headache care. Conclusions: Our study evaluating the patient perspective demonstrated that telemedicine facilitated headache care for many patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in high patient satisfaction rates, and a desire to continue to use telemedicine for future headache care among those who completed the online survey.