ABSTRACT
Introduction There is compelling evidence that telehealth is the solutional advancement to recent staffing limitations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic (Doraiswamy et al. 2020). We sought to improve clinic flow, enable safe patient oversight, increase access to care, and reduce clinician burnout through personal tele-notification of patients. Methods We scheduled patients for routine follow-up in the Supportive Care Clinic (SCC) at University Cancer Institute. Each was called within 48 hours of their appointment to confirm or cancel and a brief clinical assessment. We recorded patients' responses and the results (arrival time or absent). If the patient deviated from their attendance at their appointment, a physicianled qualitative analysis of patient's chart was performed. Results We reduced absentee appointments from 17.4% to 12.6%, improving clinical efficiency by 38.3%. Post-Intervention, new patient access to the SCC was increased 106%(6/month to 12/month). We discovered 48/355 patients were deviating from the plan of care, which required further intervention. 19/48 of these had barriers to care preventing consistent follow-up. Conclusions Personal telecommunication reduces appointment non-attendance, increases clinic efficiency, and screens for patients deviating from plan of care and barriers to care. This telehealth system provides a unique avenue of proactive patient oversight, while reducing clinician workload and thereby burnout.