UC Davis

Consumer Analysis of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) patient satisfaction surveys have been frequently used to evaluate patient satisfaction for both in-person and telehealth care. This thesis had three objectives: 1) to determine whether there are differences in patient satisfaction with telehealth visits between departments, age categories, genders, ethnicities, and primary languages; 2) to compare patient satisfaction survey scores between telehealth and in-person visits and ascertain whether these two methods of care are comparable; and 3) to evaluate different approaches of categorizing CAHPS top box scores using statistical analysis. To do this, CAHPS patient satisfaction survey scores from a large patient population across various clinical departments at an academic medical center for both in-person and telehealth visits were examined. Using binary logistic regression models, this study examined patient satisfaction with telehealth among different strata of age, race, gender, ethnicity, language, and clinical department; and compared patient satisfaction with their care provider between in-person and telehealth patients in models including these covariates. Furthermore, using both binary and ordinal logistic regression models, this study examined multiple distinct categorizations of CAHPS survey scores using statistical techniques. Findings indicate satisfaction scores following patients visiting their care provider over telehealth visits are comparable to visits provided in-person. They also indicate that different categorizations of top box scores can influence the fit of logistic regression models to the data, and that this should be considered by future researchers. Further qualitative analyses of patient comments on CAHPS surveys, as well as an investigation into patient satisfaction with their care provider and overall experience with their care by clinical department, should be considered.