eVisits to primary care and subsequent health care contacts : a register-based study
Glock, Hanna LU ; Jakobsson, Ulf LU
; Borgström Bolmsjö, Beata
LU
; Milos Nymberg, Veronica
LU
; Wolff, Moa
LU
and Calling, Susanna
LU
(2024)
In BMC Primary Care
25(1).
- Abstract
Background: Evidence concerning health care use related to virtual visits is conflicting. More research has been called for regarding the effectiveness of text-based virtual visits (eVisits). Therefore, we investigated patient characteristics, diagnoses, and subsequent health care contacts after eVisits to primary care. Methods: We conducted a register-based cohort study of eVisits to an all-virtual public primary care unit in Sweden and subsequent health care contacts within 14 days. Data for 2021 were acquired from the regional health care databases. Diagnoses were sorted into relevant diagnostic groups, such as skin diagnoses and respiratory tract diagnoses. Multiple logistic regression was performed with subsequent health care... (More)
Background: Evidence concerning health care use related to virtual visits is conflicting. More research has been called for regarding the effectiveness of text-based virtual visits (eVisits). Therefore, we investigated patient characteristics, diagnoses, and subsequent health care contacts after eVisits to primary care. Methods: We conducted a register-based cohort study of eVisits to an all-virtual public primary care unit in Sweden and subsequent health care contacts within 14 days. Data for 2021 were acquired from the regional health care databases. Diagnoses were sorted into relevant diagnostic groups, such as skin diagnoses and respiratory tract diagnoses. Multiple logistic regression was performed with subsequent health care contact as the outcome variable and diagnostic group for the eVisit as the predictor variable. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, and socioeconomic index. Results: There were 5817 eVisits to a nurse and 4267 eVisits to a general practitioner (N = 10 084). Most patients were 20 to 39 years of age (41.8%). Skin diagnoses were most frequent (47.3%), followed by respiratory tract diagnoses (19.9%). Approximately one-fourth (25.8%) of the patients who completed an eVisit with a nurse or a general practitioner had a subsequent face-to-face visit within 14 days, mostly in primary care. Subsequent contacts were more frequent after an eVisit to a nurse than to a general practitioner. After an eVisit to a general practitioner, patients with infections (especially respiratory tract but also urinary tract) and unspecified diagnoses (especially skin-related) were more likely to require further health care contact compared to a group with various other diagnoses. Conclusions: eVisits to an all-virtual primary care unit may be appropriate for uncomplicated medical complaints. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of eVisits in terms of substitution of physical visits, and resource utilization in relation to the more complex care needs of a primary care population, should be further studied.
(Less)
- author
- Glock, Hanna
LU
; Jakobsson, Ulf
LU
; Borgström Bolmsjö, Beata
LU
; Milos Nymberg, Veronica
LU
; Wolff, Moa
LU
and Calling, Susanna
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Access to primary care, Digital health, e-visit, General practice, Health care use, Primary health care, Remote consultation, Telemedicine, Virtual visit
- in
- BMC Primary Care
- volume
- 25
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 297
- publisher
- BioMed Central (BMC)
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:39135150
- scopus:85201246554
- ISSN
- 2731-4553
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12875-024-02541-y
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 67f914e2-fbd5-4eb5-b664-5b8069e0f221
- date added to LUP
- 2024-12-20 10:59:21
- date last changed
- 2025-12-06 17:04:05
@article{67f914e2-fbd5-4eb5-b664-5b8069e0f221,
abstract = {{<p>Background: Evidence concerning health care use related to virtual visits is conflicting. More research has been called for regarding the effectiveness of text-based virtual visits (eVisits). Therefore, we investigated patient characteristics, diagnoses, and subsequent health care contacts after eVisits to primary care. Methods: We conducted a register-based cohort study of eVisits to an all-virtual public primary care unit in Sweden and subsequent health care contacts within 14 days. Data for 2021 were acquired from the regional health care databases. Diagnoses were sorted into relevant diagnostic groups, such as skin diagnoses and respiratory tract diagnoses. Multiple logistic regression was performed with subsequent health care contact as the outcome variable and diagnostic group for the eVisit as the predictor variable. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, and socioeconomic index. Results: There were 5817 eVisits to a nurse and 4267 eVisits to a general practitioner (N = 10 084). Most patients were 20 to 39 years of age (41.8%). Skin diagnoses were most frequent (47.3%), followed by respiratory tract diagnoses (19.9%). Approximately one-fourth (25.8%) of the patients who completed an eVisit with a nurse or a general practitioner had a subsequent face-to-face visit within 14 days, mostly in primary care. Subsequent contacts were more frequent after an eVisit to a nurse than to a general practitioner. After an eVisit to a general practitioner, patients with infections (especially respiratory tract but also urinary tract) and unspecified diagnoses (especially skin-related) were more likely to require further health care contact compared to a group with various other diagnoses. Conclusions: eVisits to an all-virtual primary care unit may be appropriate for uncomplicated medical complaints. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of eVisits in terms of substitution of physical visits, and resource utilization in relation to the more complex care needs of a primary care population, should be further studied.</p>}},
author = {{Glock, Hanna and Jakobsson, Ulf and Borgström Bolmsjö, Beata and Milos Nymberg, Veronica and Wolff, Moa and Calling, Susanna}},
issn = {{2731-4553}},
keywords = {{Access to primary care; Digital health; e-visit; General practice; Health care use; Primary health care; Remote consultation; Telemedicine; Virtual visit}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
series = {{BMC Primary Care}},
title = {{eVisits to primary care and subsequent health care contacts : a register-based study}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12875-024-02541-y}},
doi = {{10.1186/s12875-024-02541-y}},
volume = {{25}},
year = {{2024}},
}