Association of Telehealth with Short-Interval Follow-Up.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to wide adoption of telehealth in primary care. The impact of telehealth on subsequent follow-up visit volume is mixed. This study examines the association of newly expanded telehealth with short-interval follow-up visits during the COVID-19 pandemic in an academic primary care practice. Scheduling data were used to compare rates of 0 to 60-day follow-up visits after telehealth and in-person visits before and after onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with in-person visits, telehealth visits were associated with significantly higher rates of total short-interval follow-ups and higher rates of first short-interval follow-ups occurring in 0 to 15 days. Higher rates of short-interval follow-up may be due to inefficiencies created by rapid expansion of telehealth including suboptimal scheduling algorithms, pandemic-related safety considerations, and discomfort with the visit modality. Short-interval follow-ups have potential negative impacts on practice access, patient-centered outcomes, and sustainability of telehealth in primary care. Newly expanded telehealth visits conducted in the year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in higher rates and sooner first occurrence of short-interval follow-up visits. Future research should identify optimal scheduling processes for telehealth visits to minimize short-interval follow-ups.