October, 2025

Why More Pain Management Patients Are Choosing Telehealth Care Over In-Person Visits

How many of your telemedicine patients are managing chronic or acute pain? And how is your team supporting them remotely? For pain management providers already using telemedicine, is your team equipped to deliver the same quality of care virtually as in person?

You should know that about 20% of adult patients in the United States suffer from chronic pain, with approximately 8% experiencing high-impact pain, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s no secret that telemedicine activity has increased in medical practices across the country, fueled by the coronavirus pandemic that kept people in their homes and unwilling or unable to venture outside to spend time with crowds in close quarters like waiting areas and examination rooms. They would rather use their smartphone or computer to engage in video conferences with healthcare providers.

A UCLA study on TechTarget underscored the benefits of this approach for pain management. Nearly 9 in 10 patients (89%) said telehealth saved them time, while three-quarters (76%) reported saving money, and 79% said it helped them avoid travel all without compromising the quality of their care. These findings show that virtual visits aren’t just a convenience; they can be an effective tool in helping patients manage chronic pain more consistently and with fewer barriers.

For context, telemedicine is a subset of telehealth, though you may hear the terms used interchangeably.

In this era of more patients using telemedicine, providers have a new way to help patients manage their pain more effectively.

Examples of Conditions That Warrant Pain Management Services

Patients may present with a wide variety of conditions that indicate the need for ongoing telemedicine pain management, including:

Fibromyalgia

Cancer

Endometriosis and other painful reproductive conditions

Injury from an automotive or work accident

Rehabilitation or physical therapy

Carpal tunnel syndrome or other neuropathy

Chronic back or neck pain

Sports injuries

Rheumatoid arthritis

Lupus, Crohn’s disease, and other autoimmune diseases

Sprains and strains

Migraine or chronic headache disorders

Why Patients With Chronic Pain Prefer Telemedicine

One of the most common reasons patients request telemedicine services is that their chronic pain hinders mobility. Telemedicine prevents discomfort, helping patients avoid the added stress and pain that would occur if they had to climb in and out of a vehicle and make their way into your waiting room for each physician encounter.

Chronic pain patients who also suffer from weakened immunity can stay safer by avoiding crowded waiting rooms and instead engage in virtual visits.

Busy patients may also find it challenging to take time off from work to come to your brick and mortar office for a consultation or follow-up appointment. And patients who reside in remote, rural areas often find the longer travel time to be a burden that interferes with their continuity of care, prompting them to request telemedicine to help manage pain.

Furthermore, for patients with limited incomes, the cost of traveling long distances to the doctor can also present an obstacle to receiving care that they can avoid thanks to pain management telemedicine with their healthcare provider.

Effective pain relief, anywhere.

Explore our telehealth software enhancement for pain management.

Schedule a demo

How Practices Use Telemedicine to Support Pain Management

Owners and staff of pain management practices, as well as doctors’ offices that have a large percentage of patients suffering from chronic or acute pain, are increasingly relying on telemedicine to better meet their population’s needs and help their staff work more effectively.

If you and your colleagues have been on the fence about the benefits of offering telemedicine services to patients experiencing chronic pain, you should know that 92 percent of patients said they were satisfied with using telemedicine.

That’s according to the UCLA report on TechTarget about a study surveying 327 patients at the UCLA Comprehensive Pain Center. For example, telemedicine services saved 1,400 UCLA patients an average of 69 minutes per trip and $22 for parking and gas. TechTarget also notes that using a telehealth platform can help you improve care management and manage medications quicker, to optimize clinical outcomes.

Here are examples of how medical practices benefit from telemedicine that you can apply to your patient population:

Medication reminders

During telemedicine sessions, your staff has the opportunity to remind patients to take their medication according to schedule. This is crucial, since patients should not wait until pain increases to take their medication.

Daily surveys

How are your patients feeling today? With telemedicine, it’s easier to conduct daily surveys to keep track of their physical symptoms and see how well they are managing their pain. You will also be able to ask questions to check their mental health. Patients with chronic pain are more susceptible to anxiety and depression, so ongoing surveys will help you chart their levels of discomfort.

Offer education

There’s not always sufficient time to give patients all the information they need to manage their chronic pain during in-person visits. You can use telemedicine services to boost your patients’ health literacy. Provide ongoing education about their condition and give them details about what steps they can take to reduce painful symptoms in between virtual visits.

Enables easier communication

With telemedicine integrated into your EHR, patients can connect with your practice from anywhere, reducing barriers like travel, time off work, or long wait times. Virtual visits make it easier to maintain consistent care for chronic or painful conditions, especially for those with mobility issues or limited local access to specialists.

Discover How Benchmark Solutions Can Assist Your Practice With Pain Management During Telemedicine Sessions

As you work to provide services to more of your patients through telemedicine for pain management rather than during in-person meetings, the issue of pain management becomes increasingly important when delivering high-quality care.

To that end, Benchmark Solutions has developed Benchmark EHR. We designed our electronic health record software to help practices enhance documentation and workflow while improving patient engagement.

For example, use our EHR’s customizable templates to improve how your staff conducts pain assessments, manages medications, and reviews injection procedures with patients during telemedicine sessions.

To ensure your practice remains in compliance with opioid usage regulations, Benchmark EHR will alert your staff about opioid use thresholds and protocols for tapering patients off their medications.

The software also interfaces with your state’s mandated prescribing cloud with PDMP connectivity via Surescripts.