Abstract
BackgroundThe emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in March 2020 created unprecedented challenges in the provision of scheduled ambulatory cancer care. As a result, there has been a renewed focus on video-based telehealth consultations as a means to continue ambulatory care.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to analyze the change in video visit volume at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Comprehensive Cancer Center in response to COVID-19 and compare patient demographics and appointment data from January 1, 2020, and in the 11 weeks after the transition to video visits.MethodsPatient demographics and appointment data (dates, visit types, and departments) were extracted from the electronic health record reporting database. Video visits were performed using a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)-compliant video conferencing platform with a pre-existing workflow.ResultsIn 17 departments and divisions at the UCSF Cancer Center, 2284 video visits were performed in the 11 weeks before COVID-19 changes were implemented (mean 208, SD 75 per week) and 12,946 video visits were performed in the 11-week post–COVID-19 period (mean 1177, SD 120 per week). The proportion of video visits increased from 7%-18% to 54%-72%, between the pre– and post–COVID-19 periods without any disparity based on race/ethnicity, primary language, or payor.ConclusionsIn a remarkably brief period of time, we rapidly scaled the utilization of telehealth in response to COVID-19 and maintained access to complex oncologic care at a time of social distancing.
Highlights
The emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States in March 2020 created unprecedented challenges in the provision of scheduled health care and, in particular, ambulatory cancer care
The pre–COVID-19 period was defined as the 11 weeks from January 1 to March 13, 2020, prior to the transition, and the post–COVID-19 period as the 11 weeks following the transition to video visits on March 16, 2020, up to May 31, 2020
In the pre–COVID-19 period from January 1 to March 13, 2020, there were a total of 23,988 ambulatory care episodes, with a mean of 2181 (SD 522) episodes per week across 17 departments and divisions at the UCSF Cancer Center (Figure 2)
Summary
The emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States in March 2020 created unprecedented challenges in the provision of scheduled health care and, in particular, ambulatory cancer care. The rapid spread of COVID-19 has renewed focus on telehealth [1], including video consultations [2], as a means of continuing ambulatory care without increasing the risk of potential exposure for patients, clinicians, and staff. In response to the evolving pandemic, leadership challenged the organization to transition all in-person clinic visits, beginning March 15, 2020, to video visits with exceptions only for specific, urgent cases. The emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in March 2020 created unprecedented challenges in the provision of scheduled ambulatory cancer care. There has been a renewed focus on video-based telehealth consultations as a means to continue ambulatory care
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