Telemedicine-based contacts between patients and physicians were allowed in Poland only in 2016. However, using such services was not common due to the lack of a relevant reimbursement scheme. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telemedicine and e-health systems increased radically. The aim of this study was the assessment of factors predicting the use of physician's televisit in the Polish general adult population. The analysis was based on data from an online survey of 2410 Internet users performed in October 2020. The logistic regression modeling revealed that both health (HL) and e-health literacy (eHL), the use of e-health services before the pandemic, the use of social media, and from sociodemographic variables, age, gender, vocational status, and marital status were significant predictors of obtaining televisit from a physician during the pandemic. Pre-pandemic experience with ehealth applications strongly predicted utilizing televisits during the pandemic. Respondents with higher levels of HL and eHL were more likely to use such telemedicine services than those with lower levels.
Keywords: e-health; e-health literacy; health literacy; preventive measures; telemedicine; televisit.