Abstract
BackgroundTo minimize the risk of viral transmission, ophthalmology practices limited face-to-face encounters to only patients with urgent and emergent ophthalmic conditions in the weeks after the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States. The impact of this is unknown.MethodsWe did a retrospective analysis of the change in the frequency of ICD-10 code use and patient volumes in the 6 weeks before and after the changes in clinical practice associated with COVID-19.ResultsThe total number of encounters decreased four-fold after the implementation of clinic changes associated with COVID-19. The low vision, pediatric ophthalmology, general ophthalmology, and cornea divisions had the largest total decrease of in-person visits. Conversely, the number of telemedicine visits increased sixty-fold. The number of diagnostic codes associated with ocular malignancies, most ocular inflammatory disorders, and retinal conditions requiring intravitreal injections increased. ICD-10 codes associated with ocular screening exams for systemic disorders decreased during the weeks post COVID-19.ConclusionOphthalmology practices need to be prepared to experience changes in practice patterns, implementation of telemedicine, and decreased patient volumes during a pandemic. Knowing the changes specific to each subspecialty clinic is vital to redistribute available resources correctly.
Highlights
To minimize the risk of viral transmission, ophthalmology practices limited face-to-face encounters to only patients with urgent and emergent ophthalmic conditions in the weeks after the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States
Berkenstock et al BMC Ophthalmology (2021) 21:139 reduction of in-patient visits, increase in telemedicine encounters, and the change in the types of diagnoses seen within in an ophthalmology clinic before and after COVID-19 remains unknown. We describe these changes in clinic volume over all subspecialists in an academic eye clinic as epiphenomena of COVID-19 in ophthalmic practice
This was a retrospective analysis of all the ICD-10 diagnosis codes listed in patient encounters from all of the divisions within the Wilmer Eye Institute, main site and satellite clinics, during the 6 weeks prior to (2/17/20 through 3/21/20) and the 6 weeks after the start of emergency visits (3/22/20 through 4/30/20) in response to COVID-19
Summary
To minimize the risk of viral transmission, ophthalmology practices limited face-to-face encounters to only patients with urgent and emergent ophthalmic conditions in the weeks after the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States. Berkenstock et al BMC Ophthalmology (2021) 21:139 reduction of in-patient visits, increase in telemedicine encounters, and the change in the types of diagnoses seen within in an ophthalmology clinic before and after COVID-19 remains unknown We describe these changes in clinic volume over all subspecialists in an academic eye clinic as epiphenomena of COVID-19 in ophthalmic practice
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