In-Person and Virtual Clinic Visit Frequency to Rheumatologists for Rheumatoid Arthritis at an Academic Medical...

Area of Science:

• Rheumatology
• Health Services Research
• Epidemiology

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted healthcare delivery globally.
• Subspecialty clinics experienced unprecedented changes in patient visit volumes and modalities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze outpatient visit volume trends in a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) subspecialty clinic.
• To compare visit volumes and types (in-person vs. virtual) before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Main Methods:

• Assessed monthly in-person and virtual visit data for 257 RA patients from November 2018 to September 2021.
• Utilized piecewise Poisson regression to model visit volume trends and multivariable linear regression for predictor analysis.
• Categorized visits as in-person, virtual video, or virtual telephone.

Main Results:

• Rheumatology visit volume remained stable pre-pandemic, then increased by 2% monthly post-lockdown.
• During lockdown, 61% of visits were virtual (51% video, 10% telephone), a significant shift from pre-pandemic norms.
• Post-lockdown, visit volume recovered to pre-pandemic levels with an increasing trend, and virtual visits decreased to 11%.

Conclusions:

• Despite initial disruption from COVID-19, rheumatology outpatient visit volume at an academic center demonstrated a strong recovery.
• The study highlights the resilience of rheumatology practices and the evolving role of virtual care post-pandemic.