Objectives
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a sudden change in provision of patient care. To reduce transmission of the virus, offices were closed for in-person visits and transitioned to televisits. We aimed to determine rate of conversion of scheduled in-person to televisits in a single provider urogynecology practice during the initial 11 weeks of the pandemic.
Materials and Methods
This is a retrospective study of appointments scheduled between March 17 and May 29, 2020. During this time, non-emergent office visits were discouraged. The primary outcome was successful conversion rate of in-person visits to televisits (telephone or video), defined as appointments re-scheduled within 2 months of initial in-person visit. Variables including demographics, appointment characteristics, and time to rescheduled visit were extracted. Data were analyzed 14 weeks beyond the date of reopen.
Results
There were 302 appointments for 276 patients were originally scheduled during 11 weeks. 47 (9.9%) appointments were newly scheduled televisits and 8 (1.7%) were emergent in-person visits, leaving 247 visits. There were 44 (17.8%) appointments were rescheduled as virtual visits; 30 (68.2%) video and 14 (31.8%) telephone. Of 203 non-converted visits, 45 (22.2%) could not be reached, 17 (8.4%) were cancelled by patients, 40 (19.7%) were cancelled by the physician, and 42 (20.7%) declined a televisit. Of those rescheduled to in-person visits when the office opened, 22 (10.8%) were completed, 14 (6.9%) were scheduled for a future date, and 23 (11.3%) cancelled. Converted visits were seen virtually 26.3 days (+/-34.43) after initial appointment, while non-converted patients were seen 77 days (+/- 81.26) later. Primary language was significantly different between the converted and non-converted visits (Table 1).
Conclusion
Overall, our conversion rate to completed televisits was low. The only significant difference between the converted group and non-converted group was primary language. Our study can’t fully capture reasons for this low conversion rate; additional contributing factors likely include staffing challenges in the office, technology access (providers and patients), impact of COVID-19 on patient family care responsibilities, language barrier, and non-urgent nature of visits.
Footnotes
DISCLOSURE OF RELEVANT FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIPS: Miriam C. Toaff: Nothing to disclose; Amythis Soltani: Nothing to disclose; Julia A. Youssef: Nothing to disclose; Sapphire Holness: Nothing to disclose; Cara L. Grimes: Provepharm, Hourly rate, Consultant; Johnson and Johnson, Hourly rate, Expert witness.