The impact of telephone-based telemedicine on unplanned hospital visits and mortality risk during the COVID-19 pandemic: a study from a middle-income country.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Providing care via telemedicine was suggested worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new care model and service flow using telephone-based telemedicine (2T SAVE-COVID project) was established to provide care for patients at the Department of Medicine during the pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the clinical outcomes of patients after receiving care through telemedicine in the project.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted to compare the clinical outcomes of patients receiving telemedicine compared to routine care at the outpatient clinics of the Medicine department from April 2020 to November 2021, including an original cohort (routine care: n = 54,032; telemedicine: n = 16,388) and a propensity score-matched cohort (n = 16,246 per group).

SUBMITTER: Sura-Amonrattana U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12673738 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature