Telemedicine Visits During COVID‐19 Improved Clinic Show Rates

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore the impact of telehealth in the setting of COVID‐19 on patient access to ambulatory rheumatologic care at our academic public health system and to determine whether telemedicine visits had a beneficial impact on access to our rheumatology ambulatory clinics. METHODS: We compared completed, no‐show, and cancellation rates between in‐person clinic visits and telemedicine appointments over a 10‐week time period before Ohio's initial executive order responding to COVID‐19 (premandate period) and a 10‐week time period afterward (postmandate period). Scheduling and appointment data were retrospectively extracted from the medical center's electronic health record. RESULTS: During the premandate period, when all visits were in‐person, the total number of completed visits was 930. The percentages of cancellations, no‐shows, and completed appointments of all appointment activities were 31.43%, 13.12%, and 55.46%, respectively. During the postmandate period, when telemedicine visits were added, the overall total number of completed visits was 1038. The percentages of cancellations, no‐shows, and completed appointments of all appointment activities were 53.45%, 13.91%, and 32.64%, respectively, for in‐person appointments and 0.12%, 8.48%, and 91.39%, respectively, for telemedicine appointments. CONCLUSION: Telemedicine during the COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in higher rates of completed appointments and lower rates of missed appointments in the rheumatology outpatient clinic compared with in‐person visits during and prior to the pandemic.