Current Research Archives - eConsult Workgroup

E-CONSULT WORKGROUP RESOURCES IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

A study across the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) shows that e-consults improve access to specialty care, shorten wait times, and reduce outpatient visits. Across 11 specialties, patients receiving an e-consult had significantly lower health care costs compared with patients receiving a face-to-face consultation. This was largely driven by differences in outpatient costs. Patients receiving an e-consult had…

Researchers at Ohio State University performed a cross-sectional evaluation on all ambulatory dermatology referrals and eConsults over a 25-month period. The study reports that eConsults served more nonwhite patients and Medicaid enrollees compared to ambulatory referrals. Additionally, ambulatory referral patients were significantly less likely to attend their scheduled appointments compared with eConsult patients. Based on these results, the study…

Michelle Lee, MD, and Vinod Nambudiri, MD of Partners Healthcare, MA, recently published, Electronic Consultations for Safe and Equitable Coordination of Virtual Outpatient Specialty Care. This article, published in the Journal of Applied Clinical Informatics, argues that eConsults can improve the transition of care between primary care and specialists. The authors cite previous clinical studies to highlight how eConsults can improve the relationship and communication between PCPs and specialists and improve PCP education, patient access…

The Ontario eConsult Program has been a frequent feature of the E-Consult Workgroup with its longstanding success in provider engagement, cost savings and workflow process improvement. In a 2019 provider survey of 1,256 primary care providers (PCPs), summarized in the recent Telemedicine and E-Health article: 74% of PCPs agreed that eConsult improved their referral decision making 73% agreed…

A study titled The Vascular eConsult: An Efficient, Useful, and Economical Tool for Primary Care Physicians to Interact With a Vascular Specialist, for Proper Care of the Vascular Patient by Ottawa researchers from the Ontario eConsult Program reviewed 846 cases that had been submitted for a vascular surgery e-consult between 2014 to 2016. Each case included mandatory…

E-Consults and telemedicine can result in improved access to specialty care for underserved patients. You can access the article here.

Specialists’ use of virtual communications to deliver care instead of in-person recommendations increased during the pandemic.

Ohio State University shares how e-consult was fast-tracked to support care during the pandemic. https://publichealth.jmir.org/2020/2/e19045/

At the outset of the pandemic, telehealth went from under 5% of visits to almost 93%, maintaining high patient satisfaction. https://publichealth.jmir.org/2020/2/e19045/

Pediatric dermatology e-consults reduce needs for face-to-face visits and offer potential costs savings for payers and patients. Access the article here.

The study found high rates of appropriate e-consults across specialties, supporting that e-consults are efficient compared with in-person visits https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/full/10.7326/M19-3852

E-Consults can replace some in-person specialty consultations, provides clinical guidance and reducing the risk of in-person visits to both patients and physicians. You can access the article here.

E-Consults provide a safe and effective means of triaging and providing recommendations for patients with vascular disease. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31611112/

This study demonstrates 70% of resolution of e-consults without a face-to-face visit, a benefit for seniors that face challenges to travel to appointments. You can access the article here.

Patients reported similar levels of satisfaction, understanding and acceptance of e-consults and in-person referrals. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-020-05703-7