Impact of Telehealth on Medication Adherence in Chronic Gastrointestinal Diseases

BACKGROUND: With the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand and availability of telehealth in outpatient care has had exponential growth. Although use of telehealth has been studied and validated for various medical specialties, relatively few studies have looked at its role in gastroenterology. AIM: To assess effectiveness of telehealth medicine in gastroenterology by comparing medication adherence rate for patients seen with telehealth and traditional in-person appointment for various gastrointestinal conditions. METHODS: Retrospective chart review of patients seen in outpatient gastroenterology clinic was performed to identify patients who were given prescription to fill either through telehealth or in-person appointment. By using provincial pharmacy database, we determined the prescription fill rate. RESULTS: A total of 206 patients were identified who were provided new prescriptions or prescription renewal at their gastroenterology clinic visit. One hundred and three patients were seen through in-person visit during pre-pandemic period, and 103 patients were seen through telehealth appointment during COVID-19 pandemic. The mean age of patients was 49.2 years (55% female). On average, patients had 4.7 previous visits with their gastroenterologists before their visit. IBD management was the most common reason for visits (37.9% and 46.6% in telehealth and in-person groups, respectively). Prescription fill rate for patients seen through telehealth was 92.2% compared to 81.6% for the in-person group (OR: 2.69, 95% CI: 1.12–6.45; P = 0.023). CONCLUSIONS: Medication adherence rate for telehealth visits was higher than for in-patient visits. These findings suggest that telehealth can be an effective method of care delivery, especially for patients with chronic gastrointestinal conditions like IBD.