TOPLINE:
Converting late cancellations and no-show appointments to telemedicine visits increases access to care without the need for rescheduling, according to new research.
METHODOLOGY:
- Investigators identified adult rheumatology patients with late cancellations (within 24 hours of appointment) or impending no-show appointments from September 2020 to March 2023.
- These patients were contacted and were offered the option of converting their in-person appointment to a telemedicine visit, either by phone or video.
- The program was piloted at one clinic beginning Sept. 1, 2020, and was expanded to a second clinic on Sept. 1, 2021.
TAKEAWAY:
- Of 624 eligible visits, 516 (83%) were converted to telehealth visits. Phone visits were slightly more popular than video visits (54% vs. 46%, respectively).
- Patients who were older, who lived in a rural area, or who were on Medicare and Medicaid were more likely to opt for phone visits.
- The intervention resulted in an additional 258 hours of patient care.
- The reduction in lost revenue for phone versus video telemedicine visits was $7,298 ($39.19 per appointment).
IN PRACTICE:
“Our simple, targeted strategy of converting appointments to telehealth when an in-person appointment is identified as at-risk resulted in significant access gains and modest revenue loss reduction,” with net gains overall, the authors write.
SOURCE:
Sancia Ferguson MD, MPH, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine, presented the research at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, abstract 1007.
LIMITATIONS:
The study was conducted at two clinics in the UW Health system and may not be implementable in smaller practices.
DISCLOSURES:
Senior author Christie Bartels, MD, also of University of Washington-Madison School of Medicine, reports receiving a research grant from Pfizer unrelated to this study.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.