Authors :
Presenting Author: Gogi Kumar, MD – Dayton Children's Hospital
Laura Fonseca, MPH – Research coordinator, Child Neurology, Dayton Children's Hospital; Charuta Joshi, MD – Professor, Division of Child Neurology, UT Southwestern; Elissa Yozawitz, MD – Child Neurologist, Child Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; sucheta Joshi, MD – Service Chief, Division of Child Neurology, University of Michigan, CS MOtt's Children's Hospital
Rationale: Telemedicine services were widely accepted as an additional resource to augment, enhance and facilitate patient care prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use and acceptance of telemedicine to provide medical care to patients.
A Special Interest Group was created in 2021 as part of the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium (PERC) focused on Telemedicine in Pediatric Epilepsy. A survey was sent out to all PERC sites to assess the utilization of telemedicine in providing care for children with epilepsy.
Methods:
The objective of this survey was to assess the utilization of telemedicine in evaluating and managing children with epilepsy. This was a 26-item survey that included questions on patient demographics, equity, advantages of using telemedicine, barriers in using telemedicine, physician wellness, resident and provider education and practice patterns. The survey was sent to all the PERC members in September 2021 and remained open until February 2022. A total of 29 centers participated in this survey.
Results:
A total of 62% of physicians who responded on behalf of their centers were aware of state laws. A total of 69% of respondents had one to two years (start of COVID-19) of telemedicine use in clinical practice. A total of 62% of providers saw new and established patients via telemedicine. A total of 52% believed telemedicine provides equitable health care. A total of 93% believed their institution and leadership provided adequate support for telemedicine utilization. A total of 59% used both phone and video visits, with video visits being more prevalent than phone visits. A total of 52% preferred at least one in person visit annually. A total of 69% of respondents stated the schedulers have a triage workflow for telemedicine visits. Main topics discussed during telemedicine visits were change in treatment plan, followed by seizure action plans. A total of 62% of respondents stated their practice offers telemedicine learner education. A total of 76% of respondents said telemedicine contributed to their wellbeing. A total of 59% of respondents did not know whether telemedicine was covered for their patients with private insurance. A total of 100% of respondents believed telemedicine should remain in place beyond public health emergency.
Conclusions:
Telemedicine use allowed timely care for children with epilepsy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals provided adequate infrastructure and triage workflow for telemedicine visits and many practices have remained in place. Respondents felt telemedicine to be beneficial for physician well-being and providing equitable care. All respondents believed that telemedicine should remain an integral part of health care delivery in the future. Greater efforts to study reasons for telemedicine inequities are needed to improve telemedicine encounters.
Funding: None