Ronald F. Dixon*, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States Track: Practice Presentation Topic: Web 2.0 approaches for clinical practice, clinical research, quality monitoring Presentation Type: Poster presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Last modified: 2013-09-25

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Background: Primary and specialty care in many areas face access constraints, and tools to evaluate and manage patients with chronic disease without having them present to the clinic are needed.
Objective: We performed a one shot case study to examine the efficacy of virtual patient follow up visits using questionnaire based asynchronous online patient to physician exchange. These visits replaced in person follow up visits with a physician. Specific aims included 1) To examine the adoption and usage of the virtual follow-up website and 2) To examine patient and physician satisfaction with the conducting virtual follow up visits in lieu of face to face visits.
Results: Patients were very satisfied with the overall quality of the follow up visit for their condition, and were especially satisfied with the clinical skill of the physician despite not being physically examined. Clinicians were very satisfied with the evaluation and management capabilities of these visits, and felt they could replace in person follow up visits.
Conclusion: Doctor initiated asynchronous e-visits provide a useful alternative to follow up in person visits, and could help improve access to primary care while reducing the cost of care for patients with chronic disease.