Electronic Health Record Usage Patterns: Assessing Telemedicine's Impact on the Provider Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Telemedicine has been widely implemented during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; however, its impact on those providing care remains largely understudied. Provider documentation data collected by the electronic health record (EHR) represents an underutilized tool for assessing the provider experience. Through Epic Signal, we collected data regarding the actions logged in the EHR by health care providers of the Montefiore Health System (Bronx, NY) before and after the implementation of telemedicine during the pandemic. Focusing on five metrics (appointments per day, visits closed same day, time spent outside 7 AM-7 PM, time spent on unscheduled days, and pajama time), we performed a preliminary analysis of providers across the institution, by specialty, and according to demographic characteristics such as gender and years since graduation. We observed that after telemedicine implementation, a greater proportion of providers had fewer appointments per day, closed more notes same day, and spent less time in the EHR outside of normal working hours for each of the time-related metrics. We additionally found that providers who graduated longer ago as well as female providers spent more time documenting in the EHR after hours. This brief analysis highlights the potential of using EHR data to inform decisions based on provider well-being, specifically in the setting of telemedicine implementation.

Keywords: COVID-19; EHR; provider health; telemedicine.