Improving Access to Cardiovascular Care Through Telehealth: A Single-Center Experience.

COVID-19 Cardiology Fellow-in-training Telehealth Telemedicine Virtual care

Journal

Cardiology research
ISSN: 1923-2829
Titre abrégé: Cardiol Res
Pays: Canada
ID NLM: 101557543

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Feb 2023
Historique:
received: 27 01 2023
accepted: 11 02 2023
entrez: 10 3 2023
pubmed: 11 3 2023
medline: 11 3 2023
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

Historically, access to healthcare has been a serious shortcoming of our healthcare system. Approximately 14.5% of US adults lack readily available access to health care and this has been worsened by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There are limited data on the use of telehealth in cardiology. We share our single-center experience in improving access to care via telehealth at the University of Florida, Jacksonville cardiology fellows' clinic. Demographic and social variables were collected 6 months before and 6 months after the initiation of telehealth services. The effect of telehealth was determined via Chi-square and multiple logistic regression while controlling for demographic covariates. We analyzed 3,316 cardiac clinic appointments over 1 year. Of these, 1,569 and 1,747 were before and after the start of telehealth, respectively. Fifteen percent (272 clinical encounters) out of the 1,747 clinic visits during the post-telehealth era were through telehealth, completed via audio or video consultation. Overall, there was a 7.2 % increase in attendance after the implementation of telehealth (P value < 0.001). Patients who attended their scheduled follow-up had significantly greater odds of being in the post-telehealth group while controlling for marital status and insurance type (odds ratio (OR): 1.31, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07 - 1.62). Patients who attended had higher odds of having City-Contract insurance - an institution-specific indigenous care plan (OR: 3.51, 95% CI: 1.79 - 6.87) compared to private insurance. Patients who attended also had higher odds of being previously married (OR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.05 - 1.70) or married/dating (OR: 1.39, 95% CI: 1.05 - 1.82) compared to patients who were single. Surprisingly, telehealth did not lead to an increase in the use of Mychart, our electronic patient portal (P value = 0.55). Telehealth enhanced patients' access to care by improving appointment show-rate in a cardiology fellows' clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Telehealth as a resource adjunct to traditional care in cardiology fellows' clinic should be further explored.

Sections du résumé

Background UNASSIGNED
Historically, access to healthcare has been a serious shortcoming of our healthcare system. Approximately 14.5% of US adults lack readily available access to health care and this has been worsened by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There are limited data on the use of telehealth in cardiology. We share our single-center experience in improving access to care via telehealth at the University of Florida, Jacksonville cardiology fellows' clinic.
Methods UNASSIGNED
Demographic and social variables were collected 6 months before and 6 months after the initiation of telehealth services. The effect of telehealth was determined via Chi-square and multiple logistic regression while controlling for demographic covariates.
Results UNASSIGNED
We analyzed 3,316 cardiac clinic appointments over 1 year. Of these, 1,569 and 1,747 were before and after the start of telehealth, respectively. Fifteen percent (272 clinical encounters) out of the 1,747 clinic visits during the post-telehealth era were through telehealth, completed via audio or video consultation. Overall, there was a 7.2 % increase in attendance after the implementation of telehealth (P value < 0.001). Patients who attended their scheduled follow-up had significantly greater odds of being in the post-telehealth group while controlling for marital status and insurance type (odds ratio (OR): 1.31, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07 - 1.62). Patients who attended had higher odds of having City-Contract insurance - an institution-specific indigenous care plan (OR: 3.51, 95% CI: 1.79 - 6.87) compared to private insurance. Patients who attended also had higher odds of being previously married (OR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.05 - 1.70) or married/dating (OR: 1.39, 95% CI: 1.05 - 1.82) compared to patients who were single. Surprisingly, telehealth did not lead to an increase in the use of Mychart, our electronic patient portal (P value = 0.55).
Conclusions UNASSIGNED
Telehealth enhanced patients' access to care by improving appointment show-rate in a cardiology fellows' clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Telehealth as a resource adjunct to traditional care in cardiology fellows' clinic should be further explored.

Identifiants

pubmed: 36896220
doi: 10.14740/cr1474
pmc: PMC9990546
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

63-68

Informations de copyright

Copyright 2023, Mgbemena et al.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

There are no conflicts of interest by authors involved in this project.

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Auteurs

Okechukwu Mgbemena (O)

Department of Cardiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL, USA.

Kyeesha Becoats (K)

Department of Cardiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL, USA.

Ian Tfirn (I)

Center for Data Solutions, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL, USA.

Edin Sadic (E)

Department of Cardiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL, USA.

Azeem Rathore (A)

Department of Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL, USA.

Steve Antoine (S)

Department of Cardiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Gladys Velarde (G)

Department of Cardiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL, USA.

Classifications MeSH