Telehealth in Pediatric Gastroenterology Can Be a Sustainable Long-Term Option: A Single-Center Experience

Abstract

Telehealth has been a well-established system of care delivery at Kaiser Permanente Northwest Pediatric Gastroenterology since before the COVID-19 era, where 54% of our completed pediatric gastroenterology encounters in the past year were virtual visits. Although it was previously limited in its use across the majority of health care in the US, telehealth is now a widely accepted system in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this unprecedented rapid expansion of telehealth within both new and established telehealth systems is not without challenges or quality concerns. In this report, we present our single-center experience from the past year where virtual care was already an integral part of our clinical practice in pediatric gastroenterology and review satisfaction data and quality measures from the COVID-19 era where our existing telehealth system expanded to nearly exclusive virtual care.

Figure 1.

Referral triage process. (A) A small percentage of new patients were appointed for first encounter virtually depending on reason for referral or to expedite care. (B) The majority of new patients were seen in office for the first time.