Study: Telemedicine doesn’t decrease physician visits

Communicating with patients via portals or telemedicine does not significantly reduce in-person physician visits, according to a study in the March issue of Telemedicine and e-Health. Researchers from Mayo Clinic, of Rochester, Minn., conducted a retrospective cohort study of 2,357 primary care patients who used both secure messaging and electronic visits through an online patient portal during the study period. They found no significant change in the frequency of in-person visits before and after the introduction of the patient portal (a mean of 1.81 visits per year before the portal, 1.76 visits per year after). Patients who used the portal the most had the highest number of in-person visits both before and after the patient portal was introduced, further suggesting the online interactions have little effect on the frequency of in-person visits.

Source: Becker’s Health IT