Telehealth-based diagnostic testing in general practice during the COVID-19 pandemic: an observational study

Rae-Anne Hardie; Gorkem Sezgin; Chisato Imai; Emma Gault; Precious McGuire; Muhammad Kashif Sheikh; Christopher Pearce; Tony Badrick; Andrew Georgiou

doi:10.3399/BJGPO.2021.0123

Article Figures & Data

Figures

Tables

Download figure
Open in new tab
Download powerpoint
Figure 1. Estimated proportion (and 95% confidence intervals) of GP consultations with blood tests from January 2019–December 2020. Grey bars indicate the number of weekly new COVID-19 cases for Victorian (light grey) and New South Wales (dark grey) PHNs, Australia.
Download figure
Open in new tab
Download powerpoint
Figure 2. Estimated proportion (and 95% confidence intervals) of face-to-face (black) and telehealth (grey) GP consultations with blood tests from January 2019–December 2020. Dashed vertical line indicates the time at which new telehealth Medicare Benefits Schedule items were first introduced.

Tables

Figures

View popup

Table 1. Odds ratios of a consultation having a follow-up consultation with a blood test within 7 days, by consultation type. The initial consultation may either be a face-to-face consultation with or without a blood test, or a telehealth consultation with or without a blood test. The follow-up consultation was reported separately by consultation type: either any kind of consultation or face-to-face consultation, with blood tests. Odds ratios in reference to face-to-face consultations without blood tests

	Follow-up	Any consultation type		Face-to-face consultation
Initial		Crude OR(95% CI)	Adj OR (95% CI)	Crude OR (95% CI)	Adj OR (95% CI)
Face to face	No blood test	Reference
	Blood test	3.42(3.40 to 3.45)	3.00 (2.98 to 3.03)	3.28 (3.25 to 3.30)	2.86 (2.84 to 2.89)
Telehealth	No blood test	1.82 (1.81 to 1.84)	1.71 (1.69 to 1.73)	1.35 (1.34 to 1.37)	1.31 (1.30 to 1.33)
	Blood test	3.62 (3.53 to 3.71)	3.13 (3.06 to 3.21)	1.30 (1.25 to 1.36)	1.18 (1.13 to 1.22)

Adj OR = adjusted odds ratio (controlled for age, sex, Primary Health Network [PHN], and week of the year). OR = odds ratio. P values are statistically significant (<0.001), unless otherwise specified.

Supplementary Data

BJGPO.2021.0123_Supp.pdf -
Supplementary material is not copyedited or typeset, and is published as supplied by the author(s). The author(s) retain(s) responsibility for its accuracy.