Downstream Emergency Department and Hospital Utilization Comparably Low Following In-Person Versus Telemedicine Primary Care for High-Risk Conditions

Abstract

Background: Telemedicine use expanded greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic. More data is needed to understand how this shift may impact other venues of acute care delivery.

Objective: We evaluate the association of visit modality (telephone, video, or office) and downstream emergency department (ED) and hospital visits among primary care visits for acute, time-sensitive conditions.

Design: Observational study of patient-scheduled primary care telemedicine and office visits for acute conditions (cardiac, gastrointestinal, neurologic, musculoskeletal, and head and neck) in a large, integrated healthcare delivery system.

Participants: Adults with a new self-booked primary care appointment for an eligible acute condition from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022 (with no primary care, ED, or hospital visits in prior 30 days).

Interventions: Visit modality, including office, video, or telephone.

Main measures: Seven-day ED and hospital utilization, adjusted for patient and visit characteristics.

Key results: Among 258,958 primary care visits by 239,240 adult patients, 57.7% were telemedicine visits; of these, 72.4% were telephone and 27.6% were video. Telephone visits were the timeliest, with over 70% of visits scheduled within 1 day of booking. Rates of 7-day ED utilization were low, and varied by condition group, with cardiac visits having the highest rates (4.8%) and musculoskeletal visits having the lowest (0.8%). There was less than a 1% absolute difference in ED use by visit modality for all condition types; however, telephone visits were associated with slightly higher rates than video visits. The 7-day hospitalization rate was less than 1% and observed between visit type differences varied by clinical condition.

Conclusions: Among office, telephone, and video visits in primary care for potentially high-risk, time-sensitive conditions, downstream ED and hospital use were uncommon. ED utilization was lower for video visits than telephone visits, although telephone visits were timelier and may offer a safe and accessible option for acute care.