Changes in patient visits and diagnoses in a large academic center during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BMC Ophthalmol
; 21(1): 139, 2021 Mar 20.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1143189
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
To minimize the risk of viral transmission, ophthalmology practices limited face-to-face encounters to only patients with urgent and emergent ophthalmic conditions in the weeks after the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States. The impact of this is unknown.METHODS:
We did a retrospective analysis of the change in the frequency of ICD-10 code use and patient volumes in the 6 weeks before and after the changes in clinical practice associated with COVID-19.RESULTS:
The total number of encounters decreased four-fold after the implementation of clinic changes associated with COVID-19. The low vision, pediatric ophthalmology, general ophthalmology, and cornea divisions had the largest total decrease of in-person visits. Conversely, the number of telemedicine visits increased sixty-fold. The number of diagnostic codes associated with ocular malignancies, most ocular inflammatory disorders, and retinal conditions requiring intravitreal injections increased. ICD-10 codes associated with ocular screening exams for systemic disorders decreased during the weeks post COVID-19.CONCLUSION:
Ophthalmology practices need to be prepared to experience changes in practice patterns, implementation of telemedicine, and decreased patient volumes during a pandemic. Knowing the changes specific to each subspecialty clinic is vital to redistribute available resources correctly.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ophthalmology
/
Practice Patterns, Physicians'
/
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
/
Academic Medical Centers
/
Eye Diseases
/
Ambulatory Care
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Ophthalmol
Journal subject:
Ophthalmology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12886-021-01886-7
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