News: Emergency department visits 26% lower than pre-COVID-19 levels

A TransUnion Healthcare research analysis found that after experiencing some post-COVID-19 rebound, hospital visit volumes recoveries have remained stagnant, HealthLeaders Media reported.

The analysis found that emergency department (ED) visits among 500 hospitals across the country were down 26% compared to pre-COVID-19 volumes, which is only one-basis point lower than ED volumes 10 weeks prior. The new analysis also showed that inpatient volumes were down 9% compared with pre-COVID-19 volumes during the week of October 25-31, which is also one-basis point lower than the level recorded in mid-August.

While ED and inpatient visits have stayed flat, volumes for other care settings have stayed at or above pre-COVID-19 levels. Outpatient visits have largely remained about the same, and telehealth visits are much higher.

It’s possible that the 26% reduction in ED patients stems from patients’ fear of the pandemic leading to deferred care, or those patients may have been seen in other settings. It could also be a combination of both, HealthLeaders Media reported.

In November 2020, TransUnion Healthcare also conducted a survey of 1,375 people who had used telehealth services in the past 12 months. Most telehealth patients surveyed said they used virtual health services in place of visiting their primary care physician office (60%), and an additional 8% of respondents utilized telehealth instead of visiting the ED.

It also found that:

• 14% of patients used telehealth without considering an in-person healthcare setting
• 11% of patients used telehealth instead of visiting an urgent care facility
• 67% of patients would be at least somewhat likely to continue utilizing telehealth once a COVID-19 vaccine is available and distributed
• 71% of patients said the quality of care they received via telehealth was the same as or better than in-person medical care

Of course, whether reimbursement parity for telehealth will persist in a post-COVID-19 world remains an open question.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in HealthLeaders Media. The TransUnion Healthcare analysis can be found here. To read more about CDI’s role with telehealth, click here. To read all of ACDIS’ coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, click here. To read about an earlier study that showed some post-COVID rebounds, click here.