RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Data from 95 practicing US-based physicians were analyzed (Table 1). When compared across US regions, physicians from the South and West reported using telehealth significantly more pre-COVID-19; in contrast, a significantly higher proportion of physicians from the Northeast reported never using telemedicine pre-COVID-19 (X2(6,n=95)=19.97, P=0.003). No significant relationship existed between the time period of telemedicine implementation and years of practice (X2(8,n=95)=9.954, P=0.268; Table 2).
Physicians with 21-30 years of independent practice were significantly more likely to desire an in-person visit at some point during care of their patients, whereas current residents were significantly more likely to report that telemedicine alone for patient care was acceptable (X2(4,n=88)=12.53, P=0.014). Furthermore, physicians with 30+ years of practice were significantly more likely to report that 0-20% of their total telemedicine visits were appropriate for telemedicine (X2(20,n=88)=41.88, P=0.003; Table 3).
Telemedicine modality did not vary significantly based on years in practice (X2(12,n=88)=16.600, P=0.165), surgical versus non-surgical specialty (X2(3,n=88)=1.734, P=0.629), US region (X2(9,n=88)=16.782, P=0.052), or setting (X2(6,n=88)=4.908, P=0.556). However, dermatologists were more likely to use the SAF modality compared to all other specialties combined (Table 4).
The highest-ranked advantages of telemedicine overall included the ability to work from home, schedule flexibility, and patient preference/access (Table 5). Notably, when stratified based on the timepoint of telemedicine adoption, physicians who adopted it pre-COVID rated higher financial compensation, decreased overhead costs, and ability to observe patients in a home environment as advantages of telemedicine. Dermatologists assigned significantly lower scores to these perceived
