Contacts with Patients in Croatian Family Medicine Practices-What Has Changed from 2019 to 2025?

Background/objectives: Virtual consultations (VC) with family medicine practices (FMPs) are effective, efficient, and useful communication tools in meeting patients' health needs. However, data about workload and the share of each type of consultation within FMPs are not widely available. This study aimed to determine the total number and means of all patient consultations and examinations, their share, and changes from 2019 to 2025 in the FMPs of the Health Center Zagreb-West. Methods: Monthly reports from 2019 to 2025 (excluding 2020) performed in 48 FMPs were included and analyzed in this retrospective longitudinal observational study. Other collected data included the total number of insured people FMP cared for, the number of insured people aged 65 and over, their share, and the age and gender of the doctors working in FMP, indicating whether they were permanent or substitute. Results: The total number of contacts with FMP and solely VCs increased significantly (2.7 and 2.8-fold, respectively). In 2019, half of FMPs did not use email consultations, whereas in 2022, email consultations were recorded in all analyzed FMPs. Annual email consultations grew continuously from 42 in 2019 to 1572 in 2022, and to 3669 in 2025, accounting for 1.9%, 17.4%, and 19.9% of all contacts with FMP in 2019, 2022, and 2025, respectively. The share of telephone consultations ranged from 50% to 58% of all contacts (except in 2021), and their total number increased by 2.3-fold. Although the number of examinations declined after peaking in 2024, examination rates in 2025 remained higher than those observed in 2019. FMPs with more than 1700 patients performed significantly more consultations than FMPs with fewer patients (with 27.2% difference in 2019, 12.9% in 2021, and 32.5% in 2025). FMPs with older patients in care (≥30% aged 65+) had comparable VC shares in total contacts to those with younger populations. Conclusions: During the period examined, the number of contacts with Croatian FMPs nearly tripled while the number of examinations halved. Email consultations accounted for a fifth of all contacts and were more pronounced in FMPs who cared for more than 1700 patients. Their increasing use requires clear guidelines, improved organization, and support for healthcare workers to ensure quality care.