A new study suggests that telemedicine may reduce unnecessary imaging, supporting its use in virtual care models without increasing healthcare overuse.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Lower Imaging Use: Telemedicine visits during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with nearly 30% less diagnostic imaging compared to in-person visits, according to a national insurance data analysis.
- Consistent Across Time Frames: The reduced imaging rate held steady at 7, 14, and 30 days post-visit, indicating a consistent difference in downstream service use between visit types.
- Policy Implications: The study suggests that telemedicine may reduce unnecessary imaging, supporting its use in virtual care models without increasing healthcare overuse.
A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology finds that telemedicine visits during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with significantly lower diagnostic imaging use compared to matched in-person visits. The research, conducted using national private insurance data, provides important insight into how virtual care may impact downstream medical services.
The study, led by researchers at the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute, evaluated more than 23 million office visits in 2021 from the Optum de-identified Clinformatics Data Mart Database, a large commercial and Medicare Advantage claims dataset. Researchers matched telemedicine and in-person visits based on patient, provider, and visit characteristics to isolate differences in imaging utilization across visit types.
“We found that diagnostic imaging was nearly 30% less likely to occur following a telemedicine visit compared to an in-person visit,” said YoonKyung Chung, PhD, Principal Researcher at the Neiman HPI and lead author of the study. “This finding held true across all time periods evaluated, including imaging performed within 7, 14, and 30 days of the visit.”
Of the 23.4 million visits included in the study, 10% were delivered via telemedicine. After matching, the 7-day post-visit imaging utilization rate was 2.4 percentage points lower for telemedicine visits (a 29.7% relative difference). While patients who did receive imaging after telemedicine visits had a slightly higher number of imaging studies on average, this effect was very small, just 0.02 more studies on average—compared to in-person care.
“This study suggests that telemedicine, at least during the pandemic period studied, is not associated with increased imaging utilization,” said Dr. Lauren Nicola, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Triad Radiology Associates and co-author. “As policymakers and health systems consider the future of virtual care, it’s important to recognize that telemedicine may offer a way to deliver care without contributing to overuse of imaging.”
Researchers note that while the results demonstrate lower imaging utilization, future studies are needed to examine whether the imaging that does occur in virtual settings is appropriate and whether patients experience differences in adherence or outcomes.
