Dataset Information

Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Telemedicine Preoperative Evaluation Initiative at a Major Academic Medical Center.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:With healthcare practice consolidation, the increasing geographic scope of healthcare systems, and the advancement of mobile telecommunications, there is increasing interest in telemedicine-based healthcare consultations. Anesthesiology has had experience with telemedicine consultation for preoperative evaluation since 2004, but the majority of studies have been conducted in rural settings. There is a paucity of literature of use in metropolitan areas. In this manuscript we describe the implementation of a telemedicine-based anesthesia preoperative evaluation and report the program's patient satisfaction, clinical case cancellation rate outcomes, and cost savings in a large metropolitan area (Los Angeles, CA). METHODS:This is a descriptive study of a telemedicine-based preoperative anesthesia evaluation process in an academic medical center within a large metropolitan area. In a two-year period, we evaluated 419 patients scheduled for surgery by telemedicine and 1,785 patients who were evaluated in-person. RESULTS:Day-of-surgery case cancellations were 2.95% and 3.23% in the telemedicine and the in-person cohort, respectively. Telemedicine patients avoided a median roundtrip driving distance of 63 miles (Q1 24; Q3 119) and a median time saved of 137 (Q1 95; Q3 195 and 130 (Q1 91; Q3 237) minutes during morning and afternoon traffic conditions, respectively. Patients experienced time-based savings, particularly from traveling across a metropolitan area, which amounted to $67of direct and opportunity-cost savings. From patient satisfaction surveys, 98% (129 patients out of 131 completed surveys) of patients who were consulted via telemedicine were satisfied with their experience. CONCLUSION:This study demonstrates the implementation of a telemedicine-based preoperative anesthesia evaluation from an academic medical center in a metropolitan area with high patient satisfaction, cost savings, and without increase in day-of-procedure case cancellations.

SUBMITTER: Kamdar NV

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7489226 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Telemedicine Preoperative Evaluation Initiative at a Major Academic Medical Center.

Kamdar Nirav V NV Huverserian Ari A Jalilian Laleh L Thi William W Duval Victor V Beck Lauren L Brooker Lindsay L Grogan Tristan T Lin Anne A Cannesson Maxime M

Anesthesia and analgesia 20201201 6

<h4>Background</h4>With health care practice consolidation, the increasing geographic scope of health care systems, and the advancement of mobile telecommunications, there is increasing interest in telemedicine-based health care consultations. Anesthesiology has had experience with telemedicine consultation for preoperative evaluation since 2004, but the majority of studies have been conducted in rural settings. There is a paucity of literature of use in metropolitan areas. In this article, we d ...[more]

PMID: 32841990

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Project description:ImportanceThe COVID-19 pandemic has claimed nearly 6 million lives globally as of February 2022. While pandemic control efforts, including contact tracing, have traditionally been the purview of state and local health departments, the COVID-19 pandemic outpaced health department capacity, necessitating actions by private health systems to investigate and control outbreaks, mitigate transmission, and support patients and communities.ObjectiveTo investigate the process of designing and implementing a volunteer-staffed contact tracing program at a large academic health system from April 2020 to May 2021, including program structure, lessons learned through implementation, results of case investigation and contact tracing efforts, and reflections on how constrained resources may be best allocated in the current pandemic or future public health emergencies.Design, setting, and participantsThis case series study was conducted among patients at the University of Pennsylvania Health System and in partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were contacted to counsel them regarding safe isolation practices, identify and support quarantine of their close contacts, and provide resources, such as food and medicine, needed during isolation or quarantine.ResultsOf 5470 individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 and received calls from a volunteer, 2982 individuals (54.5%; median [range] age, 42 [18-97] years; 1628 [59.4%] women among 2741 cases with sex data) were interviewed; among 2683 cases with race data, there were 110 Asian individuals (3.9%), 1476 Black individuals (52.7%), and 817 White individuals (29.2%), and among 2667 cases with ethnicity data, there were 366 Hispanic individuals (13.1%) and 2301 individuals who were not Hispanic (82.6%). Most individuals lived in a household with 2 to 5 people (2125 of 2904 individuals with household data [71.6%]). Of 3222 unique contacts, 1780 close contacts (55.2%; median [range] age, 40 [18-97] years; 866 [55.3%] women among 1565 contacts with sex data) were interviewed; among 1523 contacts with race data, there were 69 Asian individuals (4.2%), 705 Black individuals (43.2%), and 573 White individuals (35.1%), and among 1514 contacts with ethnicity data, there were 202 Hispanic individuals (12.8%) and 1312 individuals (83.4%) who were not Hispanic. Most contacts lived in a household with 2 to 5 people (1123 of 1418 individuals with household data [79.2%]). Of 3324 cases and contacts who completed a questionnaire on unmet social needs, 907 (27.3%) experienced material hardships that would make it difficult for them to isolate or quarantine safely. Such hardship was significantly less common among White compared with Black participants (odds ratio, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.16-0.25).Conclusions and relevanceThese findings demonstrate the feasibility and challenges of implementing a case investigation and contact tracing program at an academic health system. In addition to successfully engaging most assigned COVID-19 cases and close contacts, contact tracers shared health information and material resources to support isolation and quarantine, thus filling local public health system gaps and supporting local pandemic control.

Project description:BackgroundAcademic Medical Centers (AMCs) must simultaneously serve different purposes: Delivery of high quality healthcare services to patients, as the main mission, supported by other core missions such as academic activities, i.e., researching, teaching and tutoring, while maintaining solvency. This study aims to develop a methodology for constructing models evaluating the academic value provided by AMCs and implementing it at the largest AMC in Israel.MethodsThirty five practiced educators and researchers, academic experts, faculty members and executives, all employed by a metropolitan 1500-bed AMC, were involved in developing academic quality indicators. First, an initial list of AMCs' academic quality indicators was drafted, using a literature review and consulting scholars. Afterwards, additional data and preferences were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews, complemented by a three-round Delphi Panel. Finally, the methodology for constructing a model evaluating the academic value provided by the AMC was developed.ResultsThe composite academic quality indicators methodology consists of nine indicators (relative weight in parentheses): 'Scientific Publications Value' (18.7%), 'Completed Studies' (13.5%), 'Authors Value' (13.0%), 'Residents Quality' (11.3%), 'Competitive Grants Budget' (10.2%), 'Academic Training' (8.7%), 'Academic Positions' (8.3%), 'Number of Studies' (8.3%) and 'Academic Supervision' (8.0%). These indicators were grouped into three core categories: 'Education', 'Research' and 'Publications', having almost the same importance on a scale from zero to one (0-1), i.e., 0.363, 0.320, and 0.317, respectively. The results demonstrated a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach-alpha range: 0.79-0.86).ConclusionsWe have found a gap in the ability to measure academic value provided by AMCs. The main contribution of this research is the development of methodology for constructing evaluation models for AMCs academic performance. Further studies are needed to further test the validity and reliability of the proposed methodology at other sites.

Project description:IntroductionTelemedicine has the potential to improve access to care; however, its utility in the field of sexual medicine remains in question.AimTo examine the importance of video visits for the treatment of male sexual medicine at our academic center during the period of peak telemedicine use in April 2020.MethodsWe collected and compared deidentified data from all nonprocedure, adult outpatient encounters conducted as either office visits in April 2019 (n = 1,949) or video visits in April 2020 (n = 608). The primary International Classification of Diseases codes (ICD-10) labeled as diagnoses from all encounters were collected, with most encounters linked to several disease codes (n = 4,584). Demographic data were also collected. We performed comparative analyses on Stata (College Station, TX, USA) with significance set at α = .05.Main outcome measuresDisease codes were categorized based on their use and classification in urological care and the proportion that each category made up within the outpatient practice was calculated.ResultsIn comparison to the office visits, which took place in April 2019, male sexual medicine visits in April 2020, during the peak of telemedicine use, made up a significantly larger overall share of our practice (P = .012), defined by relative rises in encounters pertaining to male hypogonadism, infertility, penile abnormalities, and testicular abnormalities. Outpatients seen over video visits were also younger than outpatients seen during the previous year over office visits (58.9 vs 60.8, P = .008). Further, race and ethnicity characteristics in the outpatient population were unaffected during the period of telemedicine use.ConclusionsDuring the period of historically high telemedicine use following the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, encounters associated with male sexual medicine made up a significantly larger portion of our outpatient practice. Although the full influence of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be delineated, our findings suggest telemedicine use is compatible with the field of sexual medicine. Rabinowitz MJ, Kohn TP, Ellimoottil C, et al. The Impact of Telemedicine on Sexual Medicine at a Major Academic Center During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sex Med 2021;9:100366.

Project description:IntroductionTransitions of care experiences leave patients vulnerable to adverse outcomes, including readmissions, worsening symptoms, and reductions in functional status.AimTo describe and evaluate a primary care transitions clinic that serves patients with medical and/or social needs that must be addressed prior to establishment of primary care.SettingBrigham Health, an academic medical center in Boston, MA.Program descriptionThe transitions clinic opened within an existing primary care practice in January 2019. It employs one full-time nurse care coordinator and one full-time medical assistant, and is staffed by one primary care physician (PCP) or nurse practitioner each weekday afternoon. Both medical and social diagnoses that require follow-up post-discharge are addressed. Patients with any insurance are seen as many times as necessary until PCP care is established.Program evaluationIn the year after its establishment (January 20, 2019, to January 19, 2020), the transitions clinic received 498 referrals (73.2% from the emergency department (ED), 23.3% from inpatient), with 207 patients ultimately seen. Patients were seen 5 (median; IQR 4-6) work days post-discharge, with 2 (median; IQR 1-3) visits per patient. Patients seen in the transitions clinic had significantly fewer ED visits than a comparator cohort referred to Brigham Health Primary Care after ED or hospital discharge in the year prior (January 20, 2018, to January 20, 2019). Patients seen in the transitions clinic additionally had significantly fewer ED visits and hospitalizations in the three months post-referral than in the three months pre-referral. The most common social determinants addressed by the clinic's nurse coordinator were insurance, transportation, and housing.DiscussionA primary care transitions clinic can provide accessible, attentive care post-discharge with positive effects on healthcare utilization. Availability of a multidisciplinary team that can see patients for repeated visits until establishment of PCP care was a key success factor for the transitions clinic.

Dataset Information

Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Telemedicine Preoperative Evaluation Initiative at a Major Academic Medical Center.

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Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Telemedicine Preoperative Evaluation Initiative at a Major Academic Medical Center.

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