Telemedicine Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Office-based Physicians and Long-term Care Providers.

Abstract

Objective: This report examines telemedicine use by office-based physicians and long-term care providers in the United States, stratified by electronic health record use and by provider or practice size. Further, it examines differences in telemedicine use before and after the COVID-19 pandemic onset among office-based physicians and assesses telemedicine use during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic for long-term care providers.

Methods: Nationally representative estimates in this report are derived from data collected in the 2019 and 2021 National Electronic Health Records Survey, which assesses characteristics of office-based physicians, and the 2020 National Post-acute and Long-term Care Study, which assesses characteristics of adult day services centers and residential care communities. Measures include telemedicine using audio with video or web videoconference for patient care, electronic health record use for more than accounting or billing purposes, and size of physician practices and long-term care providers.

Results: In 2021, 80.5% of physicians in office-based settings used telemedicine for patient care, up from 16.0% in 2019. In 2020, 20.5% of adult day services centers and 44.5% of residential care communities used telemedicine to care for users with COVID-19. Office-based physicians, adult day services centers, and residential care communities that used electronic health record systems were more likely to also use telemedicine compared with those not using electronic health records. Large practices and providers were more likely to use telemedicine compared with small practices and providers.

Conclusion: Findings from this report describe telemedicine use among office-based physicians and long-term care providers. Practices and providers that used electronic health records and were larger were more likely to also use telemedicine for patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.