Rapid Utilization of Telehealth in a Comprehensive Cancer Center as a Response to COVID-19
Abstract
Background
The emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in March 2020 created unprecedented challenges in the provision of scheduled ambulatory cancer care. As a result, there has been a renewed focus on video consultations as a means to continue ambulatory care.
Objective
To analyze the change in video visit volume at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Comprehensive Cancer Center in response to COVID-19 and compare demographics/appointment data from January 1, 2020 and in the 11 weeks after transition to video visits.
Methods
Patient demographics and appointment data (dates, visit types, and departments) were abstracted from the Electronic Health Record reporting database. Video visits were performed using a HIPAA-compliant video conferencing platform with a pre-existing workflow.
Results
In 17 departments and divisions at the UCSF Cancer Center, 2,284 video visits were performed in the 11 weeks before COVID-19 changes with an average (SD) of 208 (75) per week and 12,946 video visits were performed in the 11 week post-COVID-19 period with an average (SD) of 1,177 (120) per week. The proportion of video visits increased from 7-18% to 54-72%, between the pre- and post-COVID-19 periods without any disparity based on race/ethnicity, primary language, or payor.
Conclusions
In a remarkably brief period of time, we rapidly scaled the utilization of telehealth in response to COVID-19 and maintained access to complex oncologic care at a time of social distancing.
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