Dive Brief:
- Telehealth visits are more likely to result in a follow-up appointment compared with in-person care for most specialities, according to a study by Epic Research.
- But the gap in follow-up appointments between telehealth and office care narrows when looking at longer timelines. Seventeen specialties out of 24 had more follow-up visits within seven days after telehealth appointments, but only 14 specialties had more follow-ups within 30 days and 13 within 90 days of the initial visit.
- Overall, the follow-up rates for both office and telehealth visits have held steady over the last three years.
Dive Insight:
Telehealth use soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as providers quickly pivoted to virtual care and regulators loosened rules to preserve access during social distancing. Utilization has fallen since its peak, but use still remains elevated compared with the pre-pandemic era.
Studies have shown telehealth could help patients more easily receive needed care, especially for mental healthcare and substance use disorder treatment. Rural patients could also benefit from using virtual care to cut down on long travel times to nearby healthcare facilities.
But some researchers have raised questions about whether telehealth leads to duplicative care, ultimately costing the health system more money in the long run.
The latest Epic Research study follows earlier research that found most specialities had a greater rate of same-specialty, in-person follow-up care within 90 days after an initial office visit compared with virtual care.
But the new study adds more time intervals, and included follow-up rates for both virtual and office visits.
Overall, the follow-up rate was below 40% for both telehealth and office visits within 90 days of the initial appointment, under 25% within 30 days and below 10% within seven days, according to the research.
Specialties with the highest rates of follow-up after telehealth care across all time intervals were obstetrics and gynecology, podiatry and primary care. Specialities with higher follow-up rates after office visits include physical medicine and rehabilitation, mental health and sleep care.
