Telemedicine visits reduce time to biopsy, travel time and costs for interventional radiology patients.

Abstract

2082 Background: Telemedicine has been utilized to increase access to care for patients in primary care practices and more recently, specialty practices. The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that adding a telemedicine clinic practice could decrease the time to biopsy, travel time and cost for interventional radiology (IR) clinic patients. Methods: Telemedicine visits were performed by a physician or advanced practice provider (PA or NP) at a single institution, academic medical center to patients at 3 MSK regional locations in NY and NJ. Total patient encounters and data from November 2017 to October 2019 were analyzed. Primary outcome measures were wait time from the IR referral to biopsy procedure visits, patient travel time and travel cost, stratified by in-person vs telemedicine visit. Round-trip travel distance and costs for patients were calculated by determining the offset travel. Cost (economic) benefit was the sum of: Federal cost per mile for travel, toll and parking costs, and doctor visit lost wages. Results: There were 172 MSK Regional site telemedicine visits. There was a significant reduction in time from referral to biopsy for telemedicine visits compared to in-person visits (12 vs 17 days, p < 0.0001). Additionally, there was a significant reduction in travel time for telemedicine visits vs travel time to Manhattan for an in-person visit (p < 0.0001). Telemedicine visit patients had to travel 367 less hours than an in-person visit and saved a total of 11,222 in miles that they did not have to travel. Telemedicine patients accrued $14,652 in economic benefits due to reduced travel costs and lost wages from work. Conclusions: Telemedicine significantly reduced the time to biopsy, travel time and cost for Interventional Radiology patients compared to in-person visits. Telemedicine for IR patients increases access to care for patients and allow for more efficient use of physician time and resources.