Increased Attendance During Rapid Implementation of Telehealth for Substance Use Disorders During COVID-19 at the Largest Public Hospital System in the United States
Lynsey Avalone, Carla King, Dennis M. Popeo, Charles Perkel, Chidinma J. Abara, Rebecca Linn-Walton, Vladimir Gasca, Laurie Vitagliano, Charles Barron, Omar Fattal
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to examine differences between; telehealth and in-person visits during COVID-19 and in a pre-COVID-19 reference period; COVID-19 televisit completion for patients with varying engagement in treatment during the reference period. METHODS: -tests to compare patient demographics. Generalized estimating equations for estimating the odds of outcomes were used, controlling for demographics. RESULTS: = 15,497) to COVID-19. For patients on buprenorphine, patients with no prior in-person visits during the pre-televisit period were 2.26 more likely to complete televisits compared with patients with two or more prior in-person visits. For all patients, those with two or more prior in-person visits in the reference period were 1.27 times more likely to complete a televisit compared with a patient with no in-person visits during the pre-televisit period. There was no significant difference when comparing with patients who had only one prior in-person visit to those patients with no prior visits. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, outpatient substance use disorder (SUD) telehealth appointments were associated with higher odds of visit completion compared with in-person visits during and prior to COVID-19. Patients receiving buprenorphine, without prior in person visits, were more likely to attend if they did not have in-person visits prior to COVID-19. Regulators should consider permanently adopting telehealth flexibilities for SUD treatment once the federal emergency status has ended.