BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 crisis has drastically changed care delivery with teleconsultation platforms experiencing substantial spikes in demand, helping patients and care providers avoid infections and maintain health care services. Beyond the current pandemic, teleconsultation is considered a significant opportunity to address persistent health system challenges, including accessibility, continuity, and cost of care, while ensuring quality.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims at identifying the determinants of patients' intention to continue using a teleconsultation platform. It extends prior research on information technology use continuance intention and teleconsultation services.

METHODS

Data was collected in November 2018 and May 2019 with Canadian patients who had access to a teleconsultation platform. Measures included patients' intention to continue their use; teleconsultation usefulness; teleconsultation quality; patients' trust toward the digital platform, its provider. and health care professionals; and confirmation of patients' expectations toward teleconsultation. We used structural equation modeling employing the partial least squares component-based technique to test our research model and hypotheses.

RESULTS

We analyzed a sample of 178 participants who had used teleconsultation services. Our findings revealed that confirmation of expectations had the greatest influence on continuance intention (total effects=0.722; P<.001), followed by usefulness (total effects=0.587; P<.001) and quality (total effects=0.511; P<.001). Usefulness (β=.60; P<.001) and quality (β=.34; P=.01) had direct effects on the dependent variable. The confirmation of expectations had direct effects both on usefulness (β=.56; P<.001) and quality (β=.75; P<.001) in addition to having an indirect effect on usefulness (indirect effects=0.282; P<.001). Last, quality directly influenced usefulness (β=.34; P=.002) and trust (β=.88; P<.001). Trust does not play a role in the context under study.

CONCLUSIONS

Teleconsultation is central to care going forward, and it represents a significant lever for an improved, digital delivery of health care in the future. We believe that our findings will help drive long-term teleconsultation adoption and use, including in the aftermath of the current COVID-19 crisis, so that general care improvement and greater preparedness for exceptional situations can be achieved.