ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine solved the problem of bottlenecks in the healthcare system. As a direct consequence of the COVID-19-driven shock, developing countries adopted this technology on a significant scale without proper planning or strategy. Crisis-driven changes may turn into new long-lasting strategies. The question arises if this might also apply to telemedicine in Poland. The study aimed to explore the factors influencing the provision of remote or in-person consultations to predict the future of remote consultations in Poland. The analysis of data about the provision of healthcare services was performed to observe trends in the use of teleconsultations. The preliminary hypotheses validated with findings from in-depth interviews with healthcare providers. The data shows that as the pandemic waned, there was a decrease in the percentage of teleconsultations. The interviewees mentioned several barriers that have not been overcome, which might explain this trend. These were the changing legal environment regarding teleconsultations, lack of sufficient technology on the patient side, lack of financial incentives to promote remote consultations, and finally the necessity for clear agreement on the medical conditions for which remote consultations would not have a detrimental effect on the quality of care.
