Virtual vs In-Person Neurologic Ambulatory Care

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Implementation of telemedicine expanded options for outpatient neurology care. It remains uncertain which new neurology patients can be appropriately evaluated virtually. We compared subsequent health care utilization after virtual vs in-person new patient neurology visits across 3 academic medical centers. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective multicenter cohort study of adults with a new outpatient neurology visit from September 2020 through December 2021 using the Vizient Clinical Data Base and Clinical Practice Solutions Center databases. Virtual and in-person patients were matched 1:1 using propensity scores incorporating demographics, clinical characteristics, time period, and previous health care utilization. Outcomes were analyzed overall and stratified by neurologic chief complaint category and institution. We compared rates of subsequent neurologic clinic follow-up, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations after virtual and in-person encounters. Testing and all-cause ED visits/hospitalizations were also assessed. RESULTS: = 0.13, respectively). Analyses by chief complaint found that 90-day follow-up was higher after in-person visits for dementia, whereas 30- and 90-day follow-up was higher after virtual visits for Parkinson disease and multiple sclerosis, and 90-day follow-up was higher after virtual visits for headache. Testing was more frequent after in-person visits for certain chief complaints. DISCUSSION: In this propensity score-matched multicenter cohort, new neurology patients seen virtually had similar downstream utilization as those seen in-person, including comparable 90-day follow-up and similar neurologic and all-cause ED visits and hospitalizations. Although follow-up varied modestly by chief complaint and testing was more frequent after some in-person visits, no major differences emerged overall.