A U.S. study showed that telemedicine lowered the number of patient no-shows and increased the number of patient visits to primary care.

In the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, a research team at the West Virginia University School of Medicine’s Family Medicine Department published a study on telemedicine use at primary medical institutions in rural areas.

A U.S. study said that telemedicine reduced cancellations of appointments and increased the number of patient visits.
A U.S. study said that telemedicine reduced cancellations of appointments and increased the number of patient visits.

The research team collected data from 110,999 patients who used the primary clinic run by the WVU’s family medicine department between January 2019 and November 2020. Then, the researchers analyzed their willingness to use telemedicine and their actual use.

Among them, 13,013 patients used telehealth to make phone or video visits.

Most of the clinic’s patients were from rural areas, and 10.5 percent of the patient visits were new.

The results showed that new patients or older adults aged 65 or more were less likely to use telemedicine. Patients at high risk -- including those with higher hospital admission risk or those who used the emergency room within the past year – preferred in-person visits to virtual care.

However, elderly patients with high risks were more likely to choose telehealth.

The use of telemedicine reduced no-shows of patients who cancel their appointments or see the doctor on another schedule. Telemedicine raised visit completion rates by about 20 percent for all ages. Such benefit of telemedicine was more pronounced in people between 35 and 64 who were economically active.

The research team said that people living in rural areas who struggle to get access to care or those living in low-income regions could use telemedicine to have medical services.

The research team noted that patients’ economic conditions did not affect the use of telemedicine.

The research team said that working people in rural areas could get medical care when needed, thanks to telemedicine.

“While we found that the visit completion rate (overall) was worse for people living in zip codes with higher poverty and unemployment, these differences were not present in the completion of telemedicine visits,” it added.

The research team went on to say that telemedicine was one of the tools to improve rural populations’ access to care.

“Telemedicine may facilitate access to care for difficult-to-reach patients, such as those in rural areas, as well as those who have rigid work schedules, live long distances from the clinic, have complex health problems, and are from areas of higher poverty and/or lower education,” the research team concluded.

The analysis of the data by disease showed that people with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression were more likely to use telemedicine, too.

Patients with endocrine disorders such as diabetes and hypothyroidism also chose remote care for continuous health monitoring.

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