Abstract
BackgroundeConsulta is a teleconsultation service involving general practitioners (GPs) and patients. It is part of the information system belonging to Catalonia’s primary care service. It has been in operation since the end of 2015 in conjunction with face-to-face consultations with Primary Care Teams as one of the services offered in the patient’s Personal Health Folder.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the ability of using eConsulta to reduce the number of face-to-face visits to Primary Care Teams.MethodsUsing 13 categories proposed by the researchers, 18 GPs from the Central Catalonia Health Region retrospectively classified 2268 cases managed with eConsulta and indicated whether, in their opinion, the teleconsultations reduced the number of face-to-face visits.ResultsThere was broad consensus among the GPs that eConsulta has the potential to resolve patient queries for every type of consultation. eConsulta avoided the need for a face-to-face visit in 87.9% of cases. In addition, the GPs reported that the ease of access increased the demand for health care support in 27.7% of cases; otherwise, the patient would not have initiated the queries. Therefore, based on the equation (88% x [1-28%]), eConsulta could replace 63%-88% of conventional appointments. The most frequent uses of the teleconsultation service were for management of test results (35.2%), medical enquiries (16.0%), and the management of repeat prescriptions (12.2%). On average, the teleconsultations consisted of a mean 1.57 messages (SD 0.54 messages); 45.9% (1040/2268) of the teleconsultations consisted of 1 message, and the majority of the remaining teleconsultations consisted of 2-5 interactions. The patient initiated 60.0% (1361/2268) of the teleconsultations.ConclusionsBased on the GPs’ perceptions, eConsulta could replace 63%-88% of conventional appointments. Therefore, asynchronous teleconsultations between practitioners and patients in primary care could avoid interactions that have limited added clinical value.
Highlights
Teleconsultation in the Context of the Public Health System in CataloniaThe Catalan health system provides publicly financed universal health coverage that is free at the point of access, ensuring that everyone who lives in Catalonia has the right to health care
Using 13 categories proposed by the researchers, 18 general practitioner. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) (GP) from the Central Catalonia Health Region retrospectively classified 2268 cases managed with eConsulta and indicated whether, in their opinion, the teleconsultations reduced the number of face-to-face visits
There was broad consensus among the GPs that eConsulta has the potential to resolve patient queries for every type of consultation. eConsulta avoided the need for a face-to-face visit in 87.9% of cases
Summary
The Catalan health system provides publicly financed universal health coverage that is free at the point of access, ensuring that everyone who lives in Catalonia has the right to health care It is a mixed health model funded through taxes, with equal access to a wide range of benefits offered by a single publicly available network of health resources, not all of which are publicly owned. Of the many existing projects, eConsulta is noteworthy It is an asynchronous teleconsulting service involving general practitioners (GPs) and members of the public connected to the electronic medical history systems of public primary health care. EConsulta is a teleconsultation service involving general practitioners (GPs) and patients It is part of the information system belonging to Catalonia’s primary care service. It has been in operation since the end of 2015 in conjunction with face-to-face consultations with Primary Care Teams as one of the services offered in the patient’s Personal Health Folder
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