Usability, Benefits, and Barriers Associated With Patients’ Access to Electronic Health Record–Integrated Telehealth in Hospitals in Riyadh: Qualitative Study

TL;DR

This study explores how patients and healthcare providers in Riyadh perceive the use of telehealth linked to electronic health records, highlighting benefits like convenience and challenges like technical issues.

Contribution

The study provides qualitative insights into the usability, benefits, and barriers of EHR-integrated telehealth in a postpandemic hospital setting in Saudi Arabia.

Findings

Patients appreciate EHR-integrated telehealth for its convenience and reduced need for physical visits.

Barriers include technical issues, lack of insurance payment integration, and limited provider choice.

Healthcare providers note challenges in digital literacy and platform limitations for complex care.

Abstract

The integration of electronic health records (EHRs) with telehealth platforms represents a transformative approach in health care, providing critical accessibility and engagement solutions, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Riyadh’s hospitals, the adoption of EHR-integrated telehealth has significantly increased and offers enhanced patient care options. However, there is a need to examine its continued relevance, effectiveness, and challenges in a postpandemic context.

This research aimed to qualitatively investigate the usability, perceived benefits, and barriers to patients’ access to EHR-integrated telehealth from both patients and health care providers (HCPs) in a major Riyadh hospital.

A qualitative research design was used, featuring semistructured interviews with 20 patients and 10 HCPs, selected through purposive sampling for their direct experience with EHR-integrated telehealth services at Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital in Riyadh. Thematic analysis, supported by NVivo 14 software, was used to analyze the transcriptions and extract themes related to usability, perceived benefits, and barriers.

The findings indicate that patients generally regard EHR-integrated telehealth positively, appreciating its navigability, convenience, and facilitation of remote health care interactions. Reported benefits included reduced physical visits, time savings, and more accessible follow-ups, contributing to greater continuity of care. However, significant barriers were identified, including technical challenges, lack of integration across hospital branches, absence of insurance payment linkages, and limited patient choice among providers. HCPs also expressed concerns over digital literacy gaps, the platform’s limitations for specialized and complex care, and technical disruptions impacting care delivery.

EHR-integrated telehealth offers substantial potential to improve health care delivery in Riyadh’s hospitals by enhancing access, convenience, and patient engagement. However, maximizing these benefits in Saudi Arabia’s evolving health care landscape requires addressing identified barriers, particularly in platform stability, interbranch integration, insurance linkages, and patient support resources. Findings are grounded in a single-hospital sample and are intended to inform improvements in similar hospital settings in Saudi Arabia rather than national generalization.