TY - JOUR
T1 - Deployment of an Interventional Radiology Telemedicine Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic
T2 - Initial Experience With 10,056 Visits
AU - McCarthy, Colin J.
AU - Sheth, Rahul A.
AU - Patel, Rakhi J.
AU - Cheung, Sheree H.
AU - Simon, Nicole Z.
AU - Huang, Steven Y.
AU - Gupta, Sanjay
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of Carol L. Pieranunzi, Principal EHR System Analyst, EHR Analytics & Reporting, for her help with data collection.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American College of Radiology
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - Objective: To evaluate the clinical, operational, and financial effects of using telemedicine services in an academic interventional radiology setting during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and to identify potential barriers to equitable telemedicine access for patients. Methods: Evaluation and management (E&M) data over a 104-week period from September 2019 to August 2021 were reviewed. Data related to the visits were recorded including visit type, billing provider, patient demographic information, Current Procedural Terminology code charged, and reimbursement received. The ZIP code pertaining to the patient's primary residence was matched with median household income from the US Census Bureau. Results: In all, 14,754 E&M encounters were performed over the study period, of which 10,056 were conducted using telemedicine. Twenty-two percent of visits were performed with interactive video; the remainder were performed using audio only. Female patients were more likely than male patients to use interactive video visits for telemedicine encounters (23.7% versus 20.4%, P < .001). Patients availing of video visits (mean age, 58.1 years, SD = 14.0) were also significantly younger than those patients who used audio-only (telephone) encounters (mean age, 62.5 years, SD = 13.3). Patients with private insurance and those living in neighborhoods with higher median household income were more likely to avail of interactive video visits (P < .001). Professional E&M monthly revenue was between 23.3% and 53.2% of peak prepandemic levels (mean 37.7%). Conclusion: Telemedicine services allowed for rapid restoration of E&M encounter volumes over the study period. Further work is required to determine the potential implementation barriers to increasing the use of video visits.
AB - Objective: To evaluate the clinical, operational, and financial effects of using telemedicine services in an academic interventional radiology setting during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and to identify potential barriers to equitable telemedicine access for patients. Methods: Evaluation and management (E&M) data over a 104-week period from September 2019 to August 2021 were reviewed. Data related to the visits were recorded including visit type, billing provider, patient demographic information, Current Procedural Terminology code charged, and reimbursement received. The ZIP code pertaining to the patient's primary residence was matched with median household income from the US Census Bureau. Results: In all, 14,754 E&M encounters were performed over the study period, of which 10,056 were conducted using telemedicine. Twenty-two percent of visits were performed with interactive video; the remainder were performed using audio only. Female patients were more likely than male patients to use interactive video visits for telemedicine encounters (23.7% versus 20.4%, P < .001). Patients availing of video visits (mean age, 58.1 years, SD = 14.0) were also significantly younger than those patients who used audio-only (telephone) encounters (mean age, 62.5 years, SD = 13.3). Patients with private insurance and those living in neighborhoods with higher median household income were more likely to avail of interactive video visits (P < .001). Professional E&M monthly revenue was between 23.3% and 53.2% of peak prepandemic levels (mean 37.7%). Conclusion: Telemedicine services allowed for rapid restoration of E&M encounter volumes over the study period. Further work is required to determine the potential implementation barriers to increasing the use of video visits.
KW - Evaluation and management
KW - interventional radiology
KW - telemedicine
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jacr.2021.10.022
DO - 10.1016/j.jacr.2021.10.022
M3 - Article
C2 - 35016874
AN - SCOPUS:85123370617
SN - 1546-1440
VL - 19
SP - 243
EP - 250
JO - Journal of the American College of Radiology
JF - Journal of the American College of Radiology
IS - 2
ER -