Inmates can file grievances about many different aspects of prison services and can file them at the institutional, regional, or national levels. Grievances could therefore be considered a measure of patient satisfaction. Data were obtained from BOP on all new grievances filed each month during the year preceding the demonstration and during the demonstration period, and grievances about medical and mental health care were analyzed. Researchers were interested in testing two competing hypotheses: that patient satisfaction improved with telemedicine, leading to fewer grievances; or that patient satisfaction deteriorated with telemedicine, leading to more grievances.

The data indicate that although inmates complained about many aspects of prison life, they did not file many grievances about their medical or mental health services. No statistically significant difference was found in the rate of grievances filed during the demonstration and during the preceding 12 months.