Feasibility of and Experience with Telehealth Based Patient Self-referral for COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody Therapy (preprint)

BackgroundMonoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment for COVID-19 has been underutilized due to logistical challenges, lack of access and variable treatment awareness among patients and providers. The use of telehealth during the pandemic provides an opportunity to increase access to COVID care. MethodsThis is a single-center descriptive study of telehealth-based patient self-referral for mAb therapy between March 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021 at Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital (BCCFH). ResultsAmong the 1001 self-referral patients, the mean age was 47, and most were female (57%) white (66%), and had a primary care provider (62%). During the study period, self-referrals increased from 14 per month in March to 427 in October resulting in a 30-fold increase. About 57% of self-referred patients received a telehealth visit, and of those 82% of patients received mAb infusion therapy, either onsite or at other infusion sites. The median time from self-referral to onsite infusion was 2 days (1-3 IQR). DiscussionOur study shows the integration of telehealth with a self-referral process improved access to mAb infusion. A high proportion of self-referrals were appropriate and led to timely treatment. Incorporation of self-referral and telehealth for monoclonal antibody therapy led to successful timely infusions. This approach helped those without traditional avenues for care and avoided potential delay for patients seeking referral from their medical providers.

High Sensitivity and NPV for BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen Test in Children at a Mass Testing Site During Prevalent Delta Variant (preprint)

SARS-CoV-2 continues to develop new, increasingly infectious variants, such as delta and omicron. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of the Abbott BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen Test against the gold standard of Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) in 1054 pediatric participants presenting to a state-owned high-volume Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing site. During the testing period, the delta variant was predominant. Prior to sample collection, symptomatic and exposure status was collected for all participants based on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) criteria. RT-PCR results demonstrated an overall prevalence rate of 5.2%. For all participants, the sensitivity of the rapid antigen tests was 92.7% (95% CI 82.4% - 98.0%) and specificity was 98.0% (95% CI 97.0%-98.8%). For symptomatic participants, the sensitivity was 92.3% (95% CI 74.9% - 99.1%), specificity was 96.6% (95% CI 93.6%- 98.4%), positive predictive value (PPV) was 72.7% (95% CI 54.5% - 86.7%) and negative predictive value (NPV) was 99.2% (95% CI 98.2% - 100%). Among asymptomatic participants, the sensitivity was 92.6% (95% CI 75.7% - 99.1%), specificity was 98.6% (95% CI 97.5% - 99.3%) the PPV was 71.4% (95% CI 53.7% - 85.4%) and the NPV was 99.7% (95% CI 99.0% - 100%). Our reported sensitivity and NPV are higher than other pediatric studies, but specificity and PPV are lower. Importance Children are especially impacted by the disease and its ability to disrupt educational opportunities. Although vaccinations have been approved for children 5 years and older, many children remain unvaccinated. Widespread testing may improve the ability for children to remain in in-person activities, minimizing absences from school and extracurriculars. Highly accurate rapid antigen tests may be vital to containing future COVID-19 waves while mitigating detrimental effects.