584 Increase in Cancellation Rates with Follow-Up Telemedicine Visits in a Burn Clinic Setting

Wiley, Nicholas A; Chrisco, Lori; King, Booker

INTRODUCTION: Telemedicine is a resource to help limit in-person contacts, which has become increasingly utilized during the Coronavirus pandemic. In the last year, most health care systems have attempted to limit in-person visits in order to help decrease Coronavirus transmission. A retrospective analysis was conducted to determine if the use of telemedicine resulted in an increase in cancellation rates. The data on cancellation rates of a burn clinic using telemedicine was collected for a seven-month period in 2020. The increased rate of cancellations for telemedicine visits compared to in-person visits was found to be statistically significant. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of patient cancellation rates for 2,463 burn outpatient visits seen in a burn clinic associated with a large tertiary referral burn center was performed covering the time period between April 1(st) and August 30(th) of 2020. Cancellations of initial visits for new or recently discharged patients were not included as telemedicine visits were only offered for established burn outpatients. Rescheduling rates for both groups were calculated to assess a potential impact on cancellations. Telemedicine visits consisted of patient encounters conducted by phone or by live video chat. Statistical significance was determined using chi-square test with an accepted p < 0.05. RESULTS: The study included 2,463 scheduled outpatient visits comprising 511 telemedicine visits and 1,952 in-person visits. A cancellation rate of 47% occurred for telemedicine visits and a cancellation rate of 40% was observed with in-person visits. Patient visits conducted using telemedicine were associated with a higher cancellation rate (p=0.013). The reschedule rate for telemedicine visits was 22% while in-person visits had a rate of 25% showing no significant association (p = 0.45). CONCLUSIONS: Telemedicine follow-up visits were found to have an increased rate of cancellations compared to in-person visits. Rates of rescheduling showed no significant difference between groups. [Image: see text]