Practice-Level Variation in Telemedicine Use in a Pediatric Primary Care Network During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Analysis and Survey Study
| Autor: | Alejandro Hoberman, Kristin N. Ray, Pamela Schoemer, Kelsey Schweiberger, Jennifer Iagnemma, Jill M. Taormina, David Wolfson, Joseph R Squire |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Telemedicine Adolescent pediatrics Office Visits telehealth MEDLINE ambulatory Health Informatics Context (language use) Telehealth lcsh:Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics Health Services Accessibility 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine 030225 pediatrics Health care Ambulatory Care Ethnicity Electronic Health Records Humans Medicine 030212 general & internal medicine Child health services Pandemics Retrospective Studies Original Paper ambulatory pediatrics Primary Health Care business.industry lcsh:Public aspects of medicine Infant Newborn Health services research COVID-19 Infant lcsh:RA1-1270 Emergency department Mental health health services research Child Preschool Family medicine lcsh:R858-859.7 business Delivery of Health Care |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Medical Internet Research Journal of Medical Internet Research, Vol 22, Iss 12, p e24345 (2020) |
| ISSN: | 1438-8871 |
| DOI: | 10.2196/24345 |
| Popis: | Background Telehealth, the delivery of health care through telecommunication technology, has potential to address multiple health system concerns. Despite this potential, only 15% of pediatric primary care clinicians reported using telemedicine as of 2016, with the majority identifying inadequate payment for these services as the largest barrier to their adoption. The COVID-19 pandemic led to rapid changes in payment and regulations surrounding telehealth, enabling its integration into primary care pediatrics. Objective Due to limited use of telemedicine in primary care pediatrics prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, much is unknown about the role of telemedicine in pediatric primary care. To address this gap in knowledge, we examined the association between practice-level telemedicine use within a large pediatric primary care network and practice characteristics, telemedicine visit diagnoses, in-person visit volumes, child-level variations in telemedicine use, and clinician attitudes toward telemedicine. Methods We analyzed electronic health record data from 45 primary care practices and administered a clinician survey to practice clinicians. Practices were stratified into tertiles based on rates of telemedicine use (low, intermediate, high) per 1000 patients per week during a two-week period (April 19 to May 2, 2020). By practice tertile, we compared (1) practice characteristics, (2) telemedicine visit diagnoses, (3) rates of in-person visits to the office, urgent care, and the emergency department, (4) child-level variation in telemedicine use, and (5) clinician attitudes toward telemedicine across these practices. Results Across pediatric primary care practices, telemedicine visit rates ranged from 5 to 23 telemedicine visits per 1000 patients per week. Across all tertiles, the most frequent telemedicine visit diagnoses were mental health (28%-36% of visits) and dermatologic (15%-28%). Compared to low telemedicine use practices, high telemedicine use practices had fewer in-person office visits (10 vs 16 visits per 1000 patients per week, P=.005) but more total encounters overall (in-office and telemedicine: 28 vs 22 visits per 1000 patients per week, P=.006). Telemedicine use varied with child age, race and ethnicity, and recent preventive care; however, no significant interactions existed between these characteristics and practice-level telemedicine use. Finally, clinician attitudes regarding the usability and impact of telemedicine did not vary significantly across tertiles. Conclusions Across a network of pediatric practices, we identified significant practice-level variation in telemedicine use, with increased use associated with more varied telemedicine diagnoses, fewer in-person office visits, and increased overall primary care encounter volume. Thus, in the context of the pandemic, when underutilization of primary care was prevalent, higher practice-level telemedicine use supported pediatric primary care encounter volume closer to usual rates. Child-level telemedicine use differed by child age, race and ethnicity, and recent preventive care, building upon prior concerns about differences in access to telemedicine. However, increased practice-level use of telemedicine services was not associated with reduced or increased differences in use, suggesting that further work is needed to promote equitable access to primary care telemedicine. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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