Face-to-face versus telehealth consultations during COVID-19 in australian general practice: comparison of medication prescribing

Background There has been a precipitous rise telehealth use in general practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding differences between face-to-face and telehealth consulting is an important component for planning the future use of telehealth services beyond the pandemic. However, there is limited evidence on whether telehealth consulting impacts medication prescribing under pandemic circumstances.

Aim To compare medication prescribing in face-to-face versus telehealth consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australian general practice.

Design and Setting This multisite, retrospective observational study used de-identified routinely collected electronic health data extracted from 806 general practices in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW), Australia between April-December 2020.

Method The primary outcome measure was whether at least one medication was prescribed following a telehealth or face-to-face consultation. Data are reported by medication and for each of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification System level one groups. The secondary outcome measure was first-time prescribing. Telehealth included both telephone and video consultations.

Results A total of 13,608,216 consultations satisfied the inclusion criteria (61% face-to-face and 39% telehealth). Most telehealth consultations were conducted via telephone (97.8%). Overall, 39.3% of face-to-face and 33.0% of telehealth consultations prescribed at least one medication– a statistically significant difference (adjusted OR 1.38; 95% CI 1.379–1.381). The prescribing rate was greater for face-to-face vs telehealth consultations for all drug groups except ATC level 1N (nervous system).

Conclusion Under COVID-19 restrictions in the states of Victoria and NSW, Australia, medication prescribing was higher in face-to-face consultations when compared to telehealth consultations in the study population.