Trends in Outpatient Telemedicine Utilization Among Rural Medicare Beneficiaries, 2010 to 2019
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Barnett M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8727042 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:ImportanceClinicians are increasingly adopting telemedicine in an effort to expand patient access and efficiently deliver care. However, the extent to which otolaryngologists provide telemedicine services is unclear.ObjectiveTo characterize recent trends in the use of telemedicine by otolaryngologists to deliver care to Medicare beneficiaries.Design, setting, and participantsA retrospective cross-sectional analysis was conducted between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2018, using publicly available Medicare Physician/Supplier Procedure Summary data on physicians practicing in the field of otolaryngology and benchmark specialties (dermatology and psychiatry) that provided telemedicine services to Medicare beneficiaries.Main outcomes and measuresPrimary outcomes were the mean annual number of telemedicine services delivered per active physician and mean annual payment per active physician for these services. Secondary outcomes included the number, setting, and complexity of telemedicine services.ResultsBetween 2010 and 2018, otolaryngologists provided 2127 total telemedicine services (7 unique service types) to Medicare beneficiaries and received $88 574 in total payment for these services. During this period, the mean number of telemedicine services increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.0%, and the mean Medicare payment per otolaryngologist increased at a CAGR of 21.8%. In comparison, telemedicine use during this period generally increased at a higher rate in the fields of dermatology (mean number of services per active physician at CAGR of 13.0%; mean Medicare payment per active physician at CAGR of 12.5%) and psychiatry (mean number of services per active physician at CAGR of 25.8%; mean Medicare payment per active physician at CAGR of 26.6%). In 2018, outpatient evaluation and management visits accounted for most telemedicine services provided (337 of 353 [95.5%]) and the payments received ($17 542.13 of $18 470.47 [95.0%]) by otolaryngologists. In contrast, physicians in other specialties also provided substantial portions of telemedicine services in the inpatient (psychiatry, 18 403 of 198 478 [9.3%]; dermatology, 231 of 1034 [22.3%]) and skilled nursing facility settings (psychiatry, 14 690 of 198 478 [7.4%]; dermatology, 46 of 1034 [4.4%]).Conclusions and relevanceThis study suggests that the extent to which otolaryngologists used telemedicine to deliver care to Medicare beneficiaries between 2010 and 2018 was rare. Although there was relative growth in the use of telemedicine by otolaryngologists during this period, absolute growth remained low. Policy makers and provider organizations should support otolaryngologists in the adoption of telemedicine technologies, especially while coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) viral suppression efforts necessitate prolonged restriction of physical clinic throughput.
| S-EPMC7378874 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is one of the most common and costly surgical procedures performed in the United States.To examine longitudinal trends in volume, utilization, and outcomes for primary and revision TKA between 1991 and 2010 in the US Medicare population.Observational cohort of 3,271,851 patients (aged ?65 years) who underwent primary TKA and 318 563 who underwent revision TKA identified in Medicare Part A data files.We examined changes in primary and revision TKA volume, per capita utilization, hospital length of stay (LOS), readmission rates, and adverse outcomes.Between 1991 and 2010 annual primary TKA volume increased 161.5% from 93,230 to 243,802 while per capita utilization increased 99.2% (from 31.2 procedures per 10,000 Medicare enrollees in 1991 to 62.1 procedures per 10,000 in 2010). Revision TKA volume increased 105.9% from 9650 to 19,871 while per capita utilization increased 59.4% (from 3.2 procedures per 10,000 Medicare enrollees in 1991 to 5.1 procedures per 10,000 in 2010). For primary TKA, LOS decreased from 7.9 days (95% CI, 7.8-7.9) in 1991-1994 to 3.5 days (95% CI, 3.5-3.5) in 2007-2010 (P < .001). For primary TKA, rates of adverse outcomes resulting in readmission remained stable between 1991-2010, but rates of all-cause 30-day readmission increased from 4.2% (95% CI, 4.1%-4.2%) to 5.0% (95% CI, 4.9%-5.0%) (P < .001). For revision TKA, the decrease in hospital LOS was accompanied by an increase in all-cause 30-day readmission from 6.1% (95% CI, 5.9%-6.4%) to 8.9% (95% CI, 8.7%-9.2%) (P < .001) and an increase in readmission for wound infection from 1.4% (95% CI, 1.3%-1.5%) to 3.0% (95% CI, 2.9%-3.1%) (P < .001).Increases in TKA volume have been driven by both increases in the number of Medicare enrollees and in per capita utilization. We also observed decreases in hospital LOS that were accompanied by increases in hospital readmission rates.
| S-EPMC4169369 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundUnder emergency coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic regulations, Medicare granted temporary payment parity with in-person visits for audio-only (telephone) telemedicine visits. This policy was designed to expand telemedicine to patients without camera-equipped devices and broadband internet. However, audio-only telemedicine use has been substantial.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore whether the rate of audio-only telemedicine during the pandemic is related to patient access to technology or provider behavior.DesignCross-sectional analysis of the Summer and Fall 2020 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey coronavirus disease 2019 supplements, using multivariable logistic models and accounting for complex survey design.SubjectsA total of 3375 participants in the summer survey and 2633 participants in the fall 2020 were offered a telemedicine visit to replace a scheduled in-person visit by their usual care provider.MeasuresWe compared beneficiaries who were exclusively offered audio-only telemedicine to beneficiaries who were offered video telemedicine or both audio and video.ResultsWe found that among Medicare beneficiaries who were offered telemedicine to replace a scheduled in-person appointment, ~35% were exclusively offered audio-only. 65.8% of beneficiaries exclusively offered audio-only reported having a smartphone/tablet and home internet. After controlling for personal access to technology, Hispanic [adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=2.09, P<0.001], dually eligible (AOR=1.63, P=0.002), nonprimary English speaking (AOR=1.64, P<0.001), and nonmetro beneficiaries (AOR=1.71, P=0.003) were more likely to be offered audio-only during July-November 2020.ConclusionsThese findings suggest audio-only telemedicine use during the pandemic is only partially related to patient access to technology. Policymakers must work to both expand programs that provide smartphones and broadband internet to disparity communities and telemedicine infrastructure to providers.
| S-EPMC8516710 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Previous studies have reported conflicting findings regarding how the incidence of heart failure (HF) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has changed over time, and data on contemporary national trends are sparse.Using a complete national sample of 2?789?943 AMI hospitalizations of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries from 1998 through 2010, we evaluated annual changes in the incidence of subsequent HF hospitalization and mortality using Poisson and survival analysis models. The number of patients hospitalized for HF within 1 year after AMI declined modestly from 16.1 per 100 person-years in 1998 to 14.2 per 100 person years in 2010 (P<0.001). After adjusting for demographic factors, a relative 14.6% decline for HF hospitalizations after AMI was observed over the study period (incidence risk ratio, 0.854; 95% confidence interval, 0.809-0.901). Unadjusted 1-year mortality following HF hospitalization after AMI was 44.4% in 1998, which decreased to 43.2% in 2004 to 2005, but then increased to 45.5% by 2010. After adjusting for demographic factors and clinical comorbidities, this represented a 2.4% relative annual decline (hazard ratio, 0.976; 95% confidence interval, 0.974-0.978) from 1998 to 2007, but a 5.1% relative annual increase from 2007 to 2010 (hazard ratio, 1.051; 95% confidence interval, 1.039-1.064).In a national sample of Medicare beneficiaries, HF hospitalization after AMI decreased from 1998 to 2010, which may indicate improvements in the management of AMI. In contrast, survival after HF following AMI remains poor, and has worsened from 2007 to 2010, demonstrating that challenges still remain for the treatment of this high-risk condition after AMI.
| S-EPMC4415510 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundUtilization of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFA) for treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) is increasing. Data regarding the safety of RFA for AF outside of selected centers of excellence and in older patients are limited.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to quantify utilization of RFA for treatment of AF and rates of adverse events over time in unselected U.S. Medicare patients.MethodsUsing Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) files for fiscal years 2001-2006, we developed a coding algorithm to identify AF patients treated with RFA. The number of hospitals performing the procedure, the number of procedures performed, and the frequency of eight RFA complications were determined. The impact of patient characteristics on complication rates was assessed using multivariable logistic regression.ResultsFor fiscal years 2001 to 2006, the number of hospitals performing RFA for AF in Medicare patients increased from 100 to 162, and the annual total procedure volume increased from 315 to 1975 cases. The overall complication rate was 9.1%. Annual complication rates increased from 6.7% in 2001 to 10.1% in 2006 (P for trend = .01), mainly due to an increase in rates of vascular access complications. Increasing patient age was not associated with a higher complication rate. Hospital procedural volume was not associated with the overall risk of complications but was associated with the probability of in-hospital death.ConclusionFor fiscal years 2001-2006, use of RFA for treatment of AF increased markedly in the Medicare population. Overall complication rates rose during this time, with perforation/tamponade and vascular access complications accounting for the majority of events.
| S-EPMC2958775 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveLive interactive telemedicine is increasingly covered by state Medicaid programs, but whether telemedicine is improving equity in utilization of subspecialty care is not known. We examined patterns of telemedicine use for outpatient pediatric subspecialty care within the state Medicaid programs.MethodsWe identified children ≤17 years old in 2014 Medicaid Analysis eXtract data for 12 states. We identified telemedicine-using and telemedicine-nonusing medical and surgical subspecialists. Among children cared for by telemedicine-using subspecialists, we assessed child and subspecialist characteristics associated with any telemedicine visit using logistic regression with subspecialist-level random effects. Among children cared for by telemedicine-using and nonusing subspecialists, we compared visit rates across child characteristics by assessing negative binomial regression interaction terms.ResultsOf 12,237,770 pediatric Medicaid beneficiaries, 2,051,690 (16.8%) had ≥1 subspecialist visit. Of 42,695 subspecialists identified, 146 (0.3%) had ≥1 telemedicine claim. Among children receiving care from telemedicine-using subspecialists, likelihood of any telemedicine use was increased for rural children (odds ratio [OR] 10.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] 6.3-17.1 compared to large metropolitan referent group) and those >90 miles from the subspecialist (OR 13.4, 95% CI 10.2-17.7 compared to 0-30 mile referent group). Compared to children receiving care from telemedicine-nonusing subspecialists, matched children receiving care from telemedicine-using subspecialists had larger differences in visit rates by distance to care, county rurality, ZIP code median income, and child race/ethnicity (P < .001 for interaction terms).ConclusionsChildren in rural communities and at distance to subspecialists had increased likelihood of telemedicine use. Use overall was low, and results indicated that early telemedicine policies and implementation did not close disparities in subspecialty visit rates by child geographic and sociodemographic characteristics.
| S-EPMC7194998 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Pancreatic cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the Medicare population. Whether the health care burden of pancreatic cancer has changed over the last decade is unknown. METHODS:The authors used Medicare data from 2000 to 2010 to identify beneficiaries aged ? 65 years who were hospitalized for the management of pancreatic cancer. Annual trends were estimated for the age-sex-race-adjusted initial hospitalization rate, the age-sex-race-comorbidity-adjusted 1-year mortality rate after initial hospitalization, age-sex-race-comorbidity-adjusted procedure rates, 1-year all-cause rehospitalizations after initial pancreatic cancer hospitalization, and mean inflation-adjusted Medicare payment for initial hospitalization. RESULTS:A total of 130,728 patients had ? 1 hospitalizations for pancreatic cancer and were identified from 56,642,071 beneficiaries during the study period. The age-sex-race-adjusted rate of initial hospitalization for pancreatic cancer was 50 per 100,000 person-years in 2010, representing a 0.5% annual increase since 2000 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.3%-0.7%). In the same period, the age-sex-race-comorbidity-adjusted 1-year mortality rate decreased by 4.4% (95% CI, 3.9%-4.9%), and the age-sex-race-comorbidity-adjusted surgical resection rate increased by 6.9% (95% CI, 6.4%-7.5%). The mean inflation-adjusted Medicare payment for the initial hospitalization decreased, from $14,118 in 2000 to $13,318 in 2010, and the number of 1-year all-cause rehospitalizations after the initial hospitalization increased from 0.75 per patient in 2000 to 0.82 per patient in 2009 (all P <?.001). CONCLUSIONS:For Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, initial pancreatic cancer hospitalization, surgical resection, and rehospitalization rates increased, but 1-year mortality rates declined over the last decade.
| S-EPMC4019988 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ImportanceThe use of robotic surgery for common operations like colectomy is increasing rapidly in the United States, but evidence for its effectiveness is limited and may not reflect real-world practice.ObjectiveTo evaluate outcomes of and trends in the use of robotic, laparoscopic, and open colectomy across diverse practice settings.Design, setting, and participantsThis population-based study of Medicare beneficiaries undergoing elective colectomy was conducted between January 2010 and December 2016. We used an instrumental variable analysis to account for both measured and unmeasured differences in patient characteristics between robotic, open, and laparoscopic colectomy procedures. Data were analyzed from January 21, 2019, to March 1, 2019.ExposuresReceipt of robotic colectomy.Main outcomes and measuresIncidence of postoperative medical and surgical complications and length of stay.ResultsA total of 191 292 procedures (23 022 robotic procedures [12.0%], 87 639 open procedures [45.8%], and 80 631 laparoscopic colectomy procedures [42.0%]) were included. Robotic colectomy was associated with a lower adjusted rate of overall complications than open colectomy (17.6% [95% CI, 16.9%-18.2%] vs 18.6% [95% CI, 18.4%-18.7%]; relative risk [RR], 0.94 [95% CI, 0.91-0.98]). This difference was driven by lower rates of medical complications (15.5% [95% CI, 14.8%-16.2%] vs 16.9% [95% CI, 16.7%-17.1%]; RR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.87-0.96]) because surgical complications were higher with the robotic approach (3.0% [95% CI, 2.8%-3.2%] vs 2.4% [95% CI, 2.3%-2.5%]; RR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.04-1.35]). There were no differences in complications between robotic and laparoscopic colectomy (11.1% [95% CI, 10.5%-11.6%] vs 11.0% [95% CI, 10.8%-11.2%]; RR, 1.00 [95% CI, 0.95-1.05]). There was an overall shift toward greater proportional use of robotic colectomy from 0.7% (457 of 65 332 patients) in 2010 to 10.9% (8274 of 75 909 patients) in 2016. In hospitals with the highest adoption of robotic colectomy between 2010 and 2016, increasing use of robotic colectomy (0.8% [100 of 12 522 patients] to 32.8% [5416 of 16 511 patients]) was associated with a greater replacement of laparoscopic operations (43.8% [5485 of 12 522 patients] to 25.2% [4161 of 16 511 patients]) than open operations (55.4% [6937 of 12 522 patients] to 41.9% [6918 of 16 511 patients]).Conclusions and relevanceWhile robotic colectomy was associated with minimal safety benefit over open colectomy and had comparable outcomes with laparoscopic colectomy, population-based trends suggest that it replaced a greater proportion of laparoscopic rather than open colectomy, especially in hospitals with the highest adoption of robotics.
| S-EPMC6802268 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundData are needed on the use of oral anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) in rural versus urban areas, including the initiation of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs).ObjectiveWe used Medicare data to examine rural/urban differences in anticoagulation use in patients with AF.MethodsWe identified incident AF in a 20% sample of fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries (aged ≥ 65 years) from 2011 to 2016 and collected ZIP code and covariates at the time of AF. We identified the first anticoagulant prescription filled, if any, following AF diagnosis. We categorized beneficiaries into four rural/urban areas using rural-urban commuting area codes and used Poisson regression models to compare anticoagulant use.ResultsWe included 447,252 patients with AF (mean age 79 ± 8 years), of which 82% were urban, 9% large rural, 5% small rural, and 4% isolated. The percentage who initiated an anticoagulant rose from 34% in 2011 to 53% in 2016, paralleling the uptake of DOACs. In a multivariable-adjusted analysis, those in rural areas (vs. urban) were more likely to initiate an anticoagulant. However, rural beneficiaries (vs. urban) were less likely to initiate a DOAC; those in isolated areas were 17% less likely (95% confidence interval [CI] 13-20), those in small rural areas were 12% less likely (95% CI 9-15), and those in large rural areas were 10% less likely (95% CI 8-12).ConclusionAmong Medicare beneficiaries with AF, anticoagulation use was low but increased over time with the introduction of DOACs. Rural beneficiaries were less likely to receive a DOAC.
| S-EPMC9833644 | biostudies-literature
Project description:There has been a strong push to move outpatient surgery from hospital settings to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Despite the efficiency advantages of ASCs, many are concerned that these facilities could increase overall utilization.To assess the impact of ASC opening on rates of outpatient surgery.This was a retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries undergoing outpatient surgery between 2001 and 2010. We compared population-based rates of outpatient surgery in Hospital Service Areas (HSAs) with freestanding ASCs to those without. After adjusting for differences using multiple propensity score methods, we assessed the impact of ASC opening in an HSA previously without one on rates of outpatient surgery.Patients included were Medicare beneficiaries with Part B eligibility.Adjusted HSA-level rates of outpatient surgery.Adjusted outpatient surgery rates increased from 2806 to 3940 per 10,000 and the number of ASC operating rooms grew from 7036 to 11,223 (both P<0.001 for trend). By the fourth year after opening, rates of outpatient surgery increased by 10.9% (from 3338 to 3701 per 10,000) in HSAs adding an ASC for the first time. In contrast, outpatient surgery rates grew by only 2.4% and 0.6% in HSAs where an ASC was always or never present, respectively (P<0.001 for test between 3 slopes).Rather than redistributing patients from one setting to another, the opening of ASCs increases outpatient surgery use. However, the 10.9% increase is more modest than previously suggested by state-level data.
| S-EPMC4163137 | biostudies-literature