Increased Attendance During Rapid Implementation of Telehealth for Substance Use Disorders During Covid-19 at the Largest Public Hospital System in the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID21646503
AuthorsLynsey Avalone (0000-0001-5105-7582, NYC Health + Hospitals/Office of Behavioral Health, New York, New York, USA, corresponding author), Carla King (0000-0003-0851-4906, NYC Health + Hospitals/Office of Behavioral Health, New York, New York, USA), Dennis M Popeo (0000-0002-3879-9896, Bellevue Hospital Center), Dennis Popeo (NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, New York, New York, USA), Charles Perkel (NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island, New York, New York, USA), Chidinma J Abara (NYC Health + Hospitals/Office of Population Health, New York, New York, USA), Rebecca Linn-Walton (NYC Health + Hospitals/Office of Behavioral Health, New York, New York, USA), Vladimir Gasca (NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, New York, New York, USA), Laurie Vitagliano (NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, Mt. Sinai Ichan School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA), Charles Barron (0009-0008-3946-4183, NYC Health + Hospitals/Office of Behavioral Health, New York, New York, USA), Omar Fattal (NYC Health + Hospitals/Office of Behavioral Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA)
Year2022
Volume57
Issue8
Pages1322-1327
Publication date2022-07-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSubstance Use & Misuse (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1082-6084 • E-ISSN: 1532-2491
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10826084.2022.2079140
PMID35611875
OpenAlexW4281490282
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited18

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

Attendance · Buprenorphine · Demographics · Family medicine · Generalized estimating equation · Health care · Logistic regression · Medical record · Odds · Odds ratio · Telehealth · Telemedicine · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Demography · Medicine · Opioid Use Disorder Treatment · Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation · Internal Medicine

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