Privacy and Confidentiality

Most participants had minimal privacy concerns in their own environments during virtual appointments, with telephone calls giving flexibility to choose private spaces. Privacy in virtual care is a two-sided concern, applying both to the patient's environment and to the clinical setting from which providers deliver care. Patients living with roommates or in spaces where others could overhear restricted what they were willing to discuss, reducing care openness and quality. Patients wanted assurance that providers were in private settings and wanted to consent to the presence of any other personnel such as residents during the call.