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Reduced In-Person and Increased Telehealth Outpatient Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Reduced In-Person and Increased Telehealth Outpatient Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aaron Baum, Peter J Kaboli and Mark D Schwartz
Annals of internal medicine, Vol.174(1), pp.129-131
01/2021
DOI: 10.7326/M20-3026
PMCID: PMC7429994
PMID: 32776780
url
https://doi.org/10.7326/m20-3026View
Open Access

Abstract

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many health systems are postponing outpatient visits and shifting services to telehealth. However, the extent to which in-person visits have been reduced and replaced by telehealth visits remains unclear. Objective: To describe changes in the number of in-person, telephone, and video visits at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) outpatient facilities during the initial 10 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, both overall and stratified by VA clinic. Methods and Findings: The VA is the largest health care provider in the United States and has implemented a robust COVID-19 plan in response to the pandemic. We analyzed data from the VA Corporate Data Warehouse, a national repository of electronic health records from visits to any VA facility that is updated nightly and has been previously assessed for reliability and accuracy .
Adult Aged Ambulatory Care - statistics & numerical data Ambulatory Care Facilities COVID-19 - epidemiology Female Humans Male Middle Aged Pandemics SARS-CoV-2 Telemedicine - statistics & numerical data United States - epidemiology United States Department of Veterans Affairs COVID-19

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