Clinical Outcomes and Hospital Utilization Among Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery With Telemedicine Preoperative Care

IMPORTANCE: Bariatric surgery is the mainstay of treatment for medically refractory obesity; however, it is underutilized. Telemedicine affords patient cost and time savings and may increase availability and accessibility of bariatric surgery. OBJECTIVE: To determine clinical outcomes and postoperative hospital utilization for patients undergoing bariatric surgery who receive fully remote vs in-person preoperative care. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study comparing postoperative clinical outcomes and hospital utilization after telemedicine or in-person preoperative surgical evaluation included patients treated at a US academic hospital. Participants underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy after telemedicine or in-person preoperative surgical evaluation between July 1, 2020, to December 22, 2021, or January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019, respectively. Follow-up was 60 days from date of surgery. EXPOSURES: Telemedicine-based preoperative care. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Clinical outcomes, including operating room delay, procedure duration, length of hospital stay (LOS), and major adverse events (MAE), and postoperative hospital resource utilization, including emergency department (ED) visit or hospital readmission within 30 days of the surgical procedure. RESULTS: A total of 1182 patients were included; patients in the telemedicine group were younger (mean [SD] age, 40.8 [12.5] years vs 43.0 [12.2] years; P = .01) and more likely to be female (230 of 257 [89.5%] vs 766 of 925 [82.8%]; P = .01) compared with the control group. The control group had a higher frequency of comorbidity (887 of 925 [95.9%] vs 208 of 257 [80.9%]; P < .001). The telemedicine group was found to be noninferior to the control group with respect to operating room delay (mean [SD] minutes, 7.8 [25.1]; 95% CI, 5.1-10.5 vs 4.2 [11.1]; 95% CI, 1.0-7.4; P = .002), procedure duration (mean [SD] minutes, 134.4 [52.8]; 95% CI, 130.9-137.8 vs 105.3 [41.5]; 95% CI, 100.2-110.4; P < .001), LOS (mean [SD] days, 1.9 [1.1]; 95% CI, 1.8-1.9 vs 2.1 [1.0]; 95% CI, 1.9-2.2; P < .001), MAE within 30 days (3.8%; 95% CI, 3.0%-5.7% vs 1.6%; 95% CI, 0.4%-3.9%; P = .001), MAE between 31 and 60 days (2.2%; 95% CI, 1.3%-3.3% vs 1.6%; 95% CI, 0.4%-3.9%; P < .001), frequency of ER visits (18.8%; 95% CI, 16.3%-21.4% vs 17.9%; 95% CI, 13.2%-22.6%; P = .03), and hospital readmission (10.1%; 95% CI, 8.1%-12.0% vs 6.6%; 95% CI, 3.9%-10.4%; P = .02). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cohort study, clinical outcomes in the telemedicine group were not inferior to the control group. This observation suggests that telemedicine can be used safely and effectively for bariatric surgical preoperative care.