LB767 A multicenter analysis of patients using telemedicine for dermatological conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused medical facilities to modify healthcare delivery and incorporate more telemedicine to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Multicenter studies assessing the impact of telemedicine in dermatology remains sparse. The aim of this study was to quantify the national impact of the pandemic on telemedicine utilization for common dermatologic conditions. A descriptive study was done using TriNetX, a national federated real time database of 69 million records. ICD-10 codes of the most common dermatologic diagnoses were determined a priori. The prevalence of common dermatologic conditions diagnosed via telemedicine encounters (TME) was assessed from 3/20/2020 to 3/19/2021 and compared to the preceding year. The number of TME across all dermatological conditions (ICD10:L00-L99) increased 805% from 150 to 1,358 per 100,000 of all healthcare encounters (HCE). Every dermatological disease assessed had a significant increase in TME when compared to the prior year. This increase was most significant for acne vulgaris (808%), psoriasis (792%), malignant skin neoplasms (716%), atopic dermatitis (609%), rosacea (566%) and contact dermatitis (529%). Others with increased TME include viral warts (497%), follicular cysts (415%), seborrheic keratosis (365%), actinic keratosis (351%), and benign skin neoplasms (275%). The most common dermatologic conditions seen via TME were seborrheic keratosis (146/100,000 HCE), actinic keratosis (106), malignant skin neoplasms (103), contact dermatitis (82), psoriasis (75), acne vulgaris (57), follicular cysts (48), benign skin neoplasms (42), atopic dermatitis (39), rosacea (39), and viral warts (31). Common dermatological diagnoses saw a drastic increase in telemedicine utilization from 2020 to 2021 compared to the prior year. Further research is warranted to determine whether these trends persist.