Table 4.

Circumstances when telehealth was reported as suitable and not suitable per patient visit types during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Visit type and subcategory		Circumstances when telehealth was suitable	Circumstances when telehealth was NOT suitable
Condition- or concern-based
	Chronic condition management	Pre-existing patient-provider relationship [1,23,27] Established diagnosis [18] Lack of complex physical examinations [20]	Chronic conditions when there were complex issues requiring close monitoring or longer consultations (eg, complex comorbidities, cancer, complex social issues, low hearing and vision, and cognitive impairment) [1,9,25,30]
	Medication (nonchronic condition) management	Prescription refills of existing medications [1,9,22,32] Simple, straightforward health concerns (eg, oral contraceptives) [1,22] Predominately discussion-based activities [1,22]	When physical examinations were necessary (eg, prescribing antibiotics) [1,24,31] Prescription of new medications [1,24]
	Mental health and behavioral management	Patients with mild mental health issues (ie, not at risk to themselves or others or without high cognitive impairments) [20] Patients who did not prefer a physical presence [9,20] Predominately discussion-based and counseling activities [1,9,20,23,33]	When cultural, language, or confidentiality concerns affected patients’ ability to communicate or disclose [20,26] Patients with unstable mental health concerns (eg, suicidal ideation) [1] When physical examinations were necessary for screening tests or psychotherapy delivery [1]
	Post–test result follow-up	Predominately discussion tasks rather than physical examinations [22,23,26] When patients preferred to view test results via video compared with in person [26] Nonsensitive test results [9]	When discussing sensitive test results (eg, positive cancer diagnosis) [33] When explaining complex medical jargon used in test results [33]
	Postdischarge follow-up	When patients lived far away or had difficulty arranging a same-day visit or frequent follow-ups [23,26] Patients with pre-existing patient-provider relationships at the postoperative clinic [1]	When complex physical examinations were needed [18,23] When multiple care team members (eg, nurses) were needed to address physical aspects of care (eg, wound care) [23]
Patient characteristics–based
	Existing patients (acute or existing concern)	Pre-existing patient-provider relationship [1,23,24,27] Established understanding of patients’ history [1,23,24,27] Pre-established rapport [1,23,24,27] Issues primarily reliant on assessing visual symptoms (eg, dermatological concerns) [32]	New diagnoses even with pre-existing patient-provider relationships [9] Severe concern that required more physical examinations (eg, chest pain or stomach pain) [30]
	New patients (acute or existing concern)	New patients when the consultation focused on pre-existing diagnosed concerns [1,23,25,27] Simple acute concerns (eg, dermatological concerns) that could be assessed using photos or video without complex physical examinations [1,23,25,27]	New diagnoses with no pre-existing patient-provider relationship or lack of knowledge of patient history [1,22] New patients with difficult or complex symptoms that relied on self-reported information or self-examinations [1,22] When patients were not forthcoming (eg, shyness or language or cultural barriers) [1,22] Technical issues affecting building rapport [33]