COVID 19- The Rise of Telehealth Within the Specialist Practice: Is it Here to Stay?

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 and the world as we knew it came to a stop as Australia entered “Lock Down”, forcing a change in how consultation was delivered to patient. Forcing the rise of Telehealth into Private Specialist practice. Aim: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 and Telehealth on patient access to care in the Specialist Private Practice Sector. Method: A retrospective single unit cross sectional analysis of patient consultation type, to compare patient access to telehealth pre pandemic (FY19) and subsequent pandemic financial years (FY20/21, 21/22). Results: Results showed an increase in initial telehealth appointments by 72% in the 20/21 Financial year and 288% increase during the 21/22 Financial year. Follow up appointments via Telehealth also increase by 106% and 160% respectively. Access to telehealth appointments has also shown a decreasing trend in face-to-face appointments both with initial consultations and follow up appointments. Conclusion: The use of telehealth appointments rose significantly during the timeframes where access to the clinic was reduced due to lockdown but continues to now be an important modality of access to care for both clinicians and patients. Further research needs to address the enablers and detractors for Telehealth and the translation of traditional face to face consultations and this modality.