New Study Pitches Telehealth as Safer Than the Doctor's Office

A new study makes a strong case for telehealth as an alternative to the doctor’s office, particularly during flu season.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and the university’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and athenahealth have found that people who visit their doctor’s office after someone infected with the flu has visited that office are much more likely to come down with the flu themselves. That same increase wasn’t seen in people seeking treatment for issues like urinary tract infections.

The study, published this month in Health Affairs, suggests that primary care providers embrace virtual visits as a means of reducing that chance of infection.

“It’s a widely accepted fact that patients can acquire infections in hospital settings, but we show that infection transmission can happen when you visit your doctor’s office, too,” Hannah Neprash, an assistant professor at UM’s School of Public Health and one of the study’s authors, said in a news release issued by the university.

“Our findings highlight the importance of infection control practices and continued access to telemedicine services, as health care begins to return to pre-pandemic patterns,” she added. "In-person outpatient care for influenza may promote nontrivial transmission of these viruses. This may be true for other endemic respiratory illnesses too, including COVID-19, but more research is needed."

The study, which tracked office visits from a national sample of insurance claims and EHR data compiled by athenahealth, is reportedly the first to connect the dots between office visits and the progression of a flu outbreak. According to that data, patients visits their primary care provider were almost 32 percent more likely to contract the flu within two weeks if that PCP had seen someone with the flu within the previous two weeks. In addition, that office would then serve as an incubator for the flu, infecting more patients over time.

Neprash and her fellow researchers say their study supports the need for “triage to telemedicine” policies in clinics and medical offices when a patient shows signs of a contagious viral infection like the flu.

“Given that upper respiratory symptoms are among the most common reasons for any patient to see a physician, these results highlight the importance of protocols to mitigate the risk for transmission,” the study notes. “Clinically, many of these patients will be at low risk for complications with telemedicine evaluation.”

It also suggests that care providers develop “strict infection control practices” whenever a patient showing signs of the flu or a similar virus need to be seen in person. This would include mask-wearing, hand hygiene and putting patients in separate exam rooms that can be decontaminated after a visit.

Finally, the study makes a case for continued support for telehealth coverage at a rate equal to in-person care.

“Lawmakers in Congress are actively debating the future of telemedicine policy and how it should be reimbursed after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic recedes,” the study notes. “It is possible that telemedicine reimbursement after the pandemic will be restricted to certain specialties or diagnoses or reimbursed at a rate low enough that many clinicians decide to forgo telemedicine as a mechanism for care delivery. Our results argue that clinically, for infection control, telemedicine should remain a financially viable option for clinicians to provide care for viral respiratory symptoms.”