Telemedicine Visits Surge, Leaving Lasting Impact on Nursing Home Care Delivery

Before the year 2020, telemedicine was a rarity within SNFs. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated innovative solutions, telemedicine visits surged from 0.15% of SNF visits in early 2020 to a staggering 15% for SNF visits and 25% for outpatient visits by May 2020.

However, this growth proved temporary. By 2022, telemedicine’s prevalence had declined to 2% of SNF visits and 8% of outpatient visits. While telemedicine’s share of visits had diminished, it remained significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels, indicating a lasting shift in the approach to care delivery.

This is according to a JAMA cohort study, where researchers delved into the patterns and implications of telemedicine adoption within SNFs during the critical years of 2020 to 2022.

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The study highlighted a concentrated pattern of telemedicine usage, with a small proportion of SNFs and clinicians responsible for the majority of telemedicine visits. Approximately 80% of telemedicine SNF visits were provided by the top 39% of SNFs, while the top 13% of clinicians accounted for 80% of the telemedicine visits.

One of the notable findings of the study was the association between higher telemedicine adoption and improved access to psychiatry visits within SNFs. While overall telemedicine adoption did not lead to a substantial increase in total visits, the study demonstrated that psychiatry visits experienced a 20.2% relative increase in SNFs with high telemedicine usage.

Telemedicine did not significantly alter the volume of new specialist visits or SNF visits on weekends. However, it was associated with a 7.2% relative increase in outpatient visits for residents with limited mobility.

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“We found evidence that higher adoption of telemedicine was associated with improved access to psychiatry visits and outpatient care for residents with low mobility,” researchers wrote. “While low-telemedicine SNFs had a large decrease in psychiatry visits in 2020, the level remained steady in high-telemedicine SNFs. Likely, telemedicine helped maintain established patient-clinician connections and expanded access to potential new clinicians, especially amid the long-standing decline in psychiatrist numbers.”

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