Abstract
Background
Telemedicine (TM) has emerged as a viable solution to extend infectious disease (ID) expertise to communities without access to this specialty.1 TM allows clinicians in rural settings to connect with specialists at distant sites and provide the best care for their patients, often eliminating the need for hospital transfers. Here, we describe the experience from one of the longest standing inpatient Tele-ID consult services using live audio-video (AV) visits with the assistance of a telepresenter.
Methods
Longitudinal data were collected from a 126-bed rural hospital in Pennsylvania that had no access to ID consultation before 2014. Live AV consults during business hours began in 2014 and telephonic physician to physician consults were made available 24/7. All ID consult data were extracted from the hospital electronic health record between 2014 to 2019. Key outcomes assessed included the number of consult encounters, total hospital length of stay (LOS), discharges to home, transfer to tertiary care centers, and readmission rates at 30 days.
Results
Most consulted patients were Caucasians, and females with an average age of 64.7 years (Table 1). The number of unique consult encounters increased annually from 111 in 2014 to 469 in 2019 (Table 1). The Charlson Comorbidity Score and Elixhauser Comorbidity Index also increased each year beginning in 2016 (Table 1). By contrast, LOS decreased each year as did the 30-day readmission rate (Table 2). Most patients were not transferred (average 89.4% over 6 years) to tertiary care centers and more than half were discharged to home each year (Table 2).
Conclusion
This longitudinal 6-year observation study of an inpatient TM ID service at a rural hospital showed remarkable annual growth in consult encounters (total growth >400%). Despite increasing patient acuity, overall hospital LOS decreased over time (10.2 to 8.2 days). Patient transfers to tertiary care centers remained low (average 10.5% over 6 years) as did 30-day readmissions (average 16.3% over 6 years). The majority of patients were discharged to home (average 61.3% over 6 years). These findings show that a rural inpatient TM ID consult service can expand over time and is an effective alternative for hospitals without access to ID expertise.
Disclosures
John Mellors, MD, Abound Bio (Shareholder)Accelevir Diagnostics (Consultant)Co-Crystal Pharmaceuticals (Shareholder)Gilead (Consultant, Grant/Research Support)Merck (Consultant) Rima Abdel-Massih, MD, Infectious Disease Connect (Shareholder, Other Financial or Material Support, Chief Medical Officer)
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