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. 2022 Apr;28(4):501-508.
doi: 10.1089/tmj.2020.0556. Epub 2021 Jul 20.

Pandemic Use of Telehealth by Oncology at a Rural Academic Medical Center

Kevin Curtis  1 , Jennifer Alford-Teaster  2   3   4 , Mary Lowry  1 , Matthew Mackwood  5 , Jennifer Snide  3   6 , Tor Tosteson  2   7 , Anna Tosteson  3   5   7
Affiliations

Pandemic Use of Telehealth by Oncology at a Rural Academic Medical Center

Kevin Curtis et al. Telemed J E Health. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an exponential increase in telehealth. In response to the pandemic, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (D-HH) and its Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) closed non-essential in-person services on March 17, 2020 and began reopening on April 27, 2020. We examined outpatient telehealth utilization at D-HH and NCCC in the peri-pandemic period and compared utilization to the Academic Medical Center (AMC) overall and to other service lines. Methods: Weekly outpatient volumes, percentage telehealth, percentage video versus audio-only, and percentage of new patients were examined for D-HH, for the AMC, and for selected AMC-based service lines from January 1 to October 31, 2020. Results: Compared with the AMC overall and with five other primarily non-surgical specialties, oncology was lower in the (1) proportion of outpatient visits performed via telehealth (example week 7/12/20: oncology = 11%; AMC = 21%; mean of 5 other specialties = 38%) and (2) percentage of telehealth involving video versus audio-only (7/12/20: oncology = 19%; AMC = 58%; mean of 5 others = 60%). Oncology more closely resembled the surgical specialty of orthopedics (7/12/20: 2% telehealth; 10% of telehealth involved video). Oncology also demonstrated (1) a high proportion of outpatient visits involving procedures (oncology = 22%; orthopedics = 12%) and (2) no difference between telehealth and in-person visits in terms of the percentage involving new patients. Conclusions: During the peri-pandemic period, our oncology service demonstrated a lower than average incorporation of telehealth overall into their outpatient practice and a lower proportion of telehealth performed by video. Further understanding these results and the drivers behind them will be integral for redesigning outpatient oncology care with optimal integration of telehealth.

Keywords: oncology; outpatient virtual visits; pandemic; rural; telehealth; telemedicine; teleoncology.

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Conflict of interest statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
D-HH average daily outpatient telehealth volumes 2020 (video+telephone). D-HH, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Total telehealth visits per week-oncology service line versus all AMC. AMC, Academic Medical Center.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Percent of outpatient visits by telehealth-selected service lines. HVC, heart and vascular center.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Percent of telehealth visits by video-oncology service line versus AMC.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Percent of telehealth visits by video-selected service lines.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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