An Evaluation of eVisits at an Academic Medical Center

Abstract

An eVisit is a form of asynchronous telehealth whereby the patient submits an online request for medical advice and receives a written response from a health care provider. While thought to be an efficient way to resolve low-acuity medical issues, there is limited information on whether eVisits lead the avoidance of in-person care. We reviewed 8627 eVisits that occurred at our institution from July 2017 to March 2020 and found that 23.1% of eVisits required follow-up medical care within 14 days (22.6% with primary care physician, 0.3% with emergency department, 0.2% both). Our results indicate that eVisits are a feasible alternative to in-person care for low-complexity medical issues.