Scaling E-Consult Success

An observational cohort study published in the American Journal of Managed care examined administrative data of all veterans who received an e-consult across 41 specialties and 1269 VHA medical centers and clinical sites from 2012 to 2018. The authors found that the number of e-Consults increased by 309% for all specialties by 2018. It was found that only 21.5% of e-consults resulted in an in-person visit within the same specialty within 12 months, suggesting that e-consults can prevent unnecessary in-person visits.