ABSTRACT
Introduction: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused a rapid shift in outpatient pharmacy services from in-person (IP) to telehealth (TH) visits. The impact of this on glycemic and blood pressure control in uninsured, low socioeconomic populations is not well described. Research is needed on the impact of clinical service visit modalities changes, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, on clinical outcomes. Research Question or Hypothesis: To ensure therapy goals for uninsured patients at an urban free clinic were maintained during the pandemic, we compared the proportion at blood pressure (BP) goal (<130/80 mmHg), at A1C goal (<7%), and visit trends 1 year before and after the Declaration of National Emergency (DNE) on March 13, 2020. Study Design: Retrospective chart review. Methods: This retrospective chart review collected the number of missed or canceled visits, IP and TH visits, and average days between visits. Data from visits between March 13-September 13, 2019 (pre-pandemic), January 31-April 24, 2020 (during pandemic), September 13, 2020-March 13, 2021 (post-pandemic) to assess hypertension (HTN) and diabetes (DM) control were also collected. Descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, and Cochran's Q tests were used to analyze the data. Results: Seventy eight patients were included. Visit modality changed from all IP visits before to mostly TH visits after the DNE. Missed appointments decreased (2.63+2.5 v 1.69+1.8 visits per patient, p 0.011) while completed appointments remained consistent (5.31+2.1 v 5.81+2.4, p 0.058). 30% patients had controlled HTN at each time interval with no change between time intervals (p 1.00). 40-64% patients had controlled DM over the time intervals with no overall change in DM control (p 0.061). Conclusion: Visit modality shifts due to the COVID-19 pandemic reduced missed appointments but did not impact clinical patient outcomes related to HTN and DM control.