Use telehealth as needed: telehealth substitutes in-person primary care and associates with the changes in unplanned events and follow-up visits.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Telehealth rapidly expanded since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to understand how telehealth can substitute in-person services by 1) estimating the changes in non-COVID emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and care costs among US Medicare beneficiaries by visit modality (telehealth vs. in-person) during the COVID-19 pandemic relative to the previous year; 2) comparing the follow-up time and patterns between telehealth and in-person care.

Methods

A retrospective and longitudinal study design using US Medicare patients 65 years or older from an Accountable Care Organization (ACO). The study period was April-December 2020, and the baseline period was March 2019 - February 2020. The sample included 16,222 patients, 338,872 patie

SUBMITTER: Cao YJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10154749 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature