ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted all facets of healthcare delivery including cancer care. This study evaluates the disruptions to US medical oncology practice during the pandemic in terms of number and type of patients (pts) encounters to determine the impact on continuity of patient care. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis using the CLQD electronic health record database, containing data from 2+ million pts from all 50 states. We assessed changes in the monthly proportions of visit encounter types (in-person outpatient [IPOP] and telehealth [TE]) for new and established patients (NP and EP) with an invasive malignancy, benign or in situ neoplasm, or benign hematology diagnosis having an encounter between 1/1/2018 and 9/30/2020. Results: 781,945 pts were studied. Median age on 1/1/2018 was 64 years (IQR: 53- 73), 38% were female, and 58% had an invasive malignancy. From 12/2019 to 9/2020, total monthly encounters dropped from 157,964 to 90,662. Monthly IPOP visits for NP dropped from 11.2% to 7.9%, an absolute drop of 3.3% and a relative drop of 30%;TE for NP increased by 1.1% (Table). Monthly IPOP visits for EP, as a percentage of all visits, dropped from 94.4% to 86.6% from 12/2019 to 6/2020 but rebounded to 90.4% by 9/2020. Fraction of TE increased substantially during the pandemic period reaching a peak in 6/2020 (13.8% for EP and 1.6% for NP) and decreased in 9/2020 to 9.6% and 1.1% for EP and NP, respectively. Compared to non-Hispanic patients, Hispanic patients had a larger reduction in IPOP and more TE during the study period. Percentage of monthly encounters, by type, from baseline. Conclusions: We observed a reduction in the absolute number and monthly percentage of IPOP encounters during the COVID-19 pandemic. For EP, increases in TE does not fully compensate for reductions in IPOP. The reduction in IPOP NP encounters is particularly concerning since it was not accompanied by a compensatory increase in TE. The reduction in NP is consistent with reported pandemicassociated reductions in cancer screening and suggest a notable delay in cancer diagnoses during the pandemic. Reduction in Hispanic IPOP encounters warrants further evaluation. (Table Presented).