Outcomes of Asynchronous e-Visits vs. Telephone or Video Visits for Common Primary Care Concerns

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Digital Health
• Primary Care Medicine

Background:

• Asynchronous electronic visits (e-Visits) provide convenient, on-demand primary care access for uncomplicated conditions.
• Linking e-Visits to electronic health records enhances care efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the clinical outcomes of asynchronous e-Visits with traditional scheduled telemedicine visits.
• To evaluate antibiotic prescribing and follow-up care needs for common primary care conditions.

Main Methods:

• An observational cohort study was conducted during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
• 24,584 patients with new urinary tract infections (UTI) or pink eye were analyzed.
• Outcomes included antibiotic prescriptions and 7-day follow-up care (office, ED, hospitalization) for e-Visits versus telephone/video visits.

Main Results:

• For UTI, e-Visits showed similar 7-day outpatient visit rates (13.9%) compared to telephone (8.8%) and video (9.0%) visits.
• For pink eye, e-Visits had slightly higher 7-day outpatient visit rates (13.9%) than telephone (11.0%) and video (10.6%) visits.
• Antibiotic prescribing rates differed between e-Visits and scheduled telemedicine, but emergency room visits and hospitalizations were comparable across all visit types.

Conclusions:

• Asynchronous e-Visits provide comparable follow-up care needs to scheduled telemedicine for UTI and pink eye.
• e-Visits can expand access to primary care for common conditions with similar safety outcomes.
• Targeted outreach may be necessary to increase awareness and utilization of e-Visit services.