Patient Satisfaction and Access Metrics during Pre and Post COVID-19 Pandemic in a Rural Neurology Setting

ABSTRACT

Objective: To assess the patient satisfaction and access metrics associated with tele-neurology visits during the COVID-19 pandemic in community-based outpatient neurology practice. Background: Tele-neurology implementation during COVID-19 improved patient care, access, and decreased cost to health care, but with certain limitations, including technological barriers and communication issues which are likely to be more prevalent in a rural setting. Design/Methods: Our study was a retrospective analysis of patient access metrics obtained from our EMR and patient satisfaction data obtained from “Press Ganey” software which was ranked based on 22 questions. The data was divided into the pre-COVID 19 (03/2019) and post-COVID 19 phase (03/2020). The tele neurology visits were divided according to each specialty subtype to which the referral was placed. Results: The total volume of tele-neurology visits in the pre-COVID 19 phase was 901, with 687 (76%) completion rates and 277 (59%) female patients. In contrast, the volume increased to 25,825 visits during the post-COVID phase with a completion rate of 21,638 (85%), with 10,141 (62%) female patients. Neurology was able to adopt 48% of the visit type to telemedicine, with 52% being an in-person visit during the post-COVID 19 phase. The over-all score patient satisfaction score in the pre-COVID 19 phase was 91.9% (2744), with the highest rank being ease of scheduling, coming at 11th rank in the national facilities ranking, while the worst being wait time in the clinic at 52. The post-COVID 19 phase showed an overall patient satisfaction score of 91.8% (1627), with recommended clinical practice at 10th rank, while wait time in the clinic came in at 54. Conclusions: Telemedicine was adopted successfully in the neurology outpatient clinic with a statistically significant increase in the tele-neurology visits during the post-COVID 19 phase while keeping patient satisfaction score in the high 90 percentile.