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Comparative Study
. 2023 Oct;176(10):1349-1357.
doi: 10.7326/M23-1335.

Telemedicine Versus In-Person Primary Care: Treatment and Follow-up Visits

Mary Reed  1 , Jie Huang  1 , Madeline Somers  1 , Loretta Hsueh  2 , Ilana Graetz  3 , Andrea Millman  1 , Emilie Muelly  4 , Anjali Gopalan  1   4
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Telemedicine Versus In-Person Primary Care: Treatment and Follow-up Visits

Mary Reed et al. Ann Intern Med. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Beyond initial COVID-19 pandemic emergency expansions of telemedicine use, it is unclear how well primary care telemedicine addresses patients' needs.

Objective: To compare treatment and follow-up visits (office, emergency department, hospitalization) between primary care video or telephone telemedicine and in-person office visits.

Design: Retrospective design based on administrative and electronic health record (EHR) data.

Setting: Large, integrated health care delivery system with more than 1300 primary care providers, between April 2021 and December 2021 (including the COVID-19 pandemic Delta wave).

Patients: 1 589 014 adult patients; 26.5% were aged 65 years or older, 54.9% were female, 22.2% were Asian, 7.4% were Black, 22.3% were Hispanic, 46.5% were White, 21.5% lived in neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic status, and 31.8% had a chronic health condition.

Measurements: Treatment outcomes included medication or antibiotic prescribing and laboratory or imaging ordering. Follow-up visits included in-person visits to the primary care office or emergency department or hospitalization within 7 days. Outcomes were adjusted for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics overall and stratified by clinical area (abdominal pain, gastrointestinal concerns, back pain, dermatologic concerns, musculoskeletal pain, routine care, hypertension or diabetes, and mental health).

Results: Of 2 357 598 primary care visits, 50.8% used telemedicine (19.5% video and 31.3% telephone). After adjustment, medications were prescribed in 46.8% of office visits, 38.4% of video visits, and 34.6% of telephone visits. After the visit, 1.3% of in-person visits, 6.2% of video visits, and 7.6% of telephone visits had a 7-day return in-person primary care visit; 1.6% of in-person visits, 1.8% of video visits, and 2.1% of telephone visits were followed by an emergency department visit. Differences in follow-up office visits were largest after index office versus telephone visits for acute pain conditions and smallest for mental health.

Limitations: In the study setting, telemedicine is fully integrated with ongoing EHRs and with clinicians, and the study examines an insured population during the late COVID-19 pandemic period. Observational comparison lacks detailed severity or symptom measures. Follow-up was limited to 7 days. Clinical area categorization uses diagnosis code rather than symptom.

Conclusion: In-person return visits were somewhat higher after telemedicine compared with in-person primary care visits but varied by specific clinical condition.

Primary funding source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M23-1335.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Percent of Index Visit Type by Clinical Concern Area Percent shown in label on y axis is the percentage of all study visits in each diagnosis group. HTN: Hypertension, DM: Diabetes, GI: Gastrointestinal
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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