SAT-815 Efficiency and Effectiveness of Endocrinology E-visits: Insights from an Academic Medical Center Pilot

Abstract Disclosure: A. Baburaj: None. E. Karslioglu French: None. Efficiency and Effectiveness of Endocrinology E-visits: Insights from an Academic Medical Center Pilot Introduction: E-visit is a billable communication between an established patient and their provider through an online patient portal, initiated by the patient medical question. Endocrinology divisions across the country receive high number of electronic patient messages between office visits. We established E-visit pilot program to navigate electronic patient messages that require complex medical decision-making. Our quality improvement project aimed at analyzing the impact of e-visits in resolving patient questions. METHOD: We conducted a retrospective chart review of 108 E-visits between November 2023 and November 2024 with a focus on demographic characteristics, medical question types, time spent by the provider, and resolution rate of E-visits without requiring an actual appointment in the division of endocrinology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Results: The patient population was predominantly female (79.6%) with a median age of 46 years. The most common medical questions were related to medications prescribed in prior appointments (44.4%), followed by labs/imaging interpretation (18.5%), and management of symptoms (15.7%). The primary sub-categories of question topics included weight management (31.5%), thyroid (22.2%), and diabetes (16.7%). The median provider time spent on e-visits was 12 minutes, with 43.5% of visits lasting 5-10 minutes, 42.6% lasting 11-20 minutes, and 13.9% lasting 21 minutes or more. A remarkable 86.9% of the issues addressed during e-visits were resolved without the need for an appointment. Only 31.57 % of E visits were reimbursed by the insurance services. Conclusion: Our study findings suggest that E-visits can be an effective tool for addressing endocrine follow-up patients' questions that require complex medical decision making. E-visits may offer significant benefits in improving access to care by reducing the need for follow-up appointments, which usually have a long wait time. Insurance reimbursement for this effective healthcare service delivery tool is still new and not recognized by all insurance services, which can be a barrier to protect provider time to deliver E-visit. Presentation: Saturday, July 12, 2025