Quantifying the Impact of COVID-19 on Telemedicine Utilization: Retrospective Observational Study

Emily Louise Vogt; Brandon M Welch; Brian E Bunnell; Janelle F Barrera; Samantha R Paige; Marisa Owens; Patricia Coffey; Nancy Diazgranados; David Goldman

doi:10.2196/29880

Quantifying the Impact of COVID-19 on Telemedicine Utilization: Retrospective Observational Study

Interact J Med Res. 2022 Jan 28;11(1):e29880. doi: 10.2196/29880.

Authors

Emily Louise Vogt^#^{1

2}, Brandon M Welch^{3

4}, Brian E Bunnell^{4

5}, Janelle F Barrera^{4

5}, Samantha R Paige⁴, Marisa Owens⁶, Patricia Coffey⁶, Nancy Diazgranados², David Goldman^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
² Office of the Clinical Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.
³ Biomedical Informatics Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States.
⁴ Doxy.me Research, Doxy.me, LLC, Rochester, NY, United States.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States.
⁶ Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.
⁷ Lab of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, United States.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 34751158
PMCID: PMC8797150
DOI: 10.2196/29880

Abstract

Background: While telemedicine has been expanding over the past decade, the COVID-19-related restrictions regarding in-person care have led to unprecedented levels of telemedicine utilization. To the authors' knowledge, no studies to date have quantitatively analyzed both national and regional trends in telemedicine utilization during the pandemic, both of which have key implications for informing health policy.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate how trends in telemedicine utilization changed across the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Using data from doxy.me, the largest free telemedicine platform, and the NIH (National Institutes of Health) Clinical Center, the largest clinical research hospital in the United States, we assessed changes in total telemedicine minutes, new provider registrations, monthly sessions, and average session length from March to November 2020. We also conducted a state-level analysis of how telemedicine expansion differed by region.

Results: National telemedicine utilization peaked in April 2020 at 291 million minutes and stabilized at 200 to 220 million monthly minutes from May to November 2020. Surges were strongest in New England and weakest in the South and West. Greater telemedicine expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic was geographically associated with fewer COVID-19 cases per capita. The nature of telemedicine visits also changed, as the average monthly visits per provider doubled and the average visit length decreased by 60%.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic led to an abrupt and subsequently sustained uptick in telemedicine utilization. Regional and institute-level differences in telemedicine utilization should be further investigated to inform policy and procedures for sustaining meaningful telemedicine use in clinical practice.

Keywords: COVID-19; health policy; impact; observational; policy; retrospective; telehealth; telemedicine; trend; utilization.

©Emily Louise Vogt, Brandon M Welch, Brian E Bunnell, Janelle F Barrera, Samantha R Paige, Marisa Owens, Patricia Coffey, Nancy Diazgranados, David Goldman. Originally published in the Interactive Journal of Medical Research (https://www.i-jmr.org/), 28.01.2022.

Abstract

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