Abstract 6473: Evaluation of bladder cancer patients' utilization of urologic telehealth services

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Infection control practices and public policy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic shifted healthcare practices towards a telemedicine format. Even two years after peak onset of the pandemic, many clinics, including our own institution, maintain a working telehealth option for patient visits. Our objective was to evaluate patient utilization of telehealth visits versus in-person visits at our institution and whether this was impacted by clinical stage, rural/urban status, distance from a large urban academic center, payor status, or comorbidities. Methods: Medical Record Numbers for all patients with bladder cancer were pulled via the Qlik platform from the period 7/1/2019-2/28/2022. Chart review was conducted to pull clinical data on patients including telehealth versus in person visits, demographic data, clinical stage, comorbidities (diabetes, smoking status, BMI), rural/urban status by zip code (>50,000, <50,000 individuals) and income levels by zip code (25K-49.9K, 50K-99.9K, <100K), payor status (Medicare, Managed care, Medicaid, other government, ODRC, or self-pay), patient distance, and gas savings/carbon footprint. Results: 430 patients completed in person visits while 268 completed telehealth visits. There was no statistically significant difference for in person visits vs. telehealth visits regarding patients’ race (p=0.541), ethnicity (p=0.394) age (p=0.862), urban/rural status (p=0.507), payor status (p=0.127), mean zip code income (p=0.175), and comorbidities (p=0.626 for diabetes, p = 0.706 for smoking, p = 0.459 for BMI), and clinical stage (p=0.07). There was a statistically significant difference in mean distance (14.85 miles versus 26.86 miles, p<0.01). Conclusion: Patients’ with bladder cancer receive care from their urologist via in person visits versus telehealth at similar rates irrespective of their urban/rural status, demographics, payor status, relevant comorbidities, or relative income. Patients are more likely to engage in care with their urologist via telehealth if they live farther from a large urban academic center, which produces an economical and environmental impact via gas/time savings and reduced carbon footprint. Citation Format: Steven Goldenthal, Tasha Posid, Victor Heh, Dairon Denis-Diaz, Hafsa Asif, Chase Arnold, Henry Gold, Tae-Hee Kim, Amara Ndumele, Sabrina Amin, Matthew Lierz, Vivian Xu, Tyler Cronin, Aliza Khuhro, Cheryl Lee. Evaluation of bladder cancer patients' utilization of urologic telehealth services [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 6473.