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INTRODUCTION: The global pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in an expansion of telemedicine. Measures of quality and barriers for rapid use by patients and physicians are not well described. OBJECTIVE: To describe results from a quality improvement initiative during a rapid adoptive phase of telemedicine during the pandemic. DESIGN: Patient and physician satisfaction with synchronous audiovisual telemedicine visits was measured during the early adoptive phase (6 April 2020-17 April 2020) within the division of sports medicine in an academic Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) department. Patients were invited to participate in a quality improvement initiative by completing an online survey at the end of a telemedicine visit. Physicians completed a separate survey. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Patient measures included visit type, duration of encounter, quality, and satisfaction. Physicians reported on experiences performed telemedicine. RESULTS: Surveys were completed by 119 patients (293 telemedicine encounters, response rate 40.6%) and 14 physiatrists. Telemedicine was utilized primarily for follow-up visits (n = 74, 70.6%), and the most common duration was 15 to 29 minutes. Patients rated their telemedicine visit as "excellent" or "very good" across measures (91.6%-95.0%) including addressing concerns, communication, developing a treatment plan, convenience, and satisfaction. Value of completing a future telemedicine visit was measured at 84.9%. Most reported estimated travel time saved was in excess of 30 minutes. Rate of no-show was 2.7%. Most physicians (57.1%) had no prior experience with telemedicine visits, and most were comfortable performing these visits after completing 1 to 4 sessions (71%). Nearly all physicians (92.9%) rated their telemedicine experience as very good or excellent. The key barrier identified for telemedicine was technical issues. All physicians reported plans to perform telemedicine visits if reimbursement continues. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, rapid expansion of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic was well-received by a majority of patients and physicians. This suggests feasibility in rapid expansion of telemedicine for other outpatient sports medicine practices.

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Telehealth refers to health care interactions that leverage telecommunication devices to provide medical care outside the traditional face-to-face, in-person medical encounter. Technology advances and research have expanded use of telehealth in health care delivery. Physical medicine and rehabilitation providers may use telehealth to deliver care to populations with neurologic and musculoskeletal conditions, commonly treated in both acute care and outpatient settings. Patients with impaired mobility and those living in locations with reduced access to care may particularly benefit. Video-teleconferencing has been shown to be effective for management of burn patients during acute rehabilitation, including reduced health care use expenses and less disruptions to care. Telehealth can facilitate developing interprofessional care plans. Patients with neurologic conditions including stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may use telehealth to monitor symptoms and response to treatment. Telehealth also may facilitate occupational and physical therapy programs as well as improve weight management and skin care in patients with chronic conditions. Other applications include imaging review in sports medicine, symptom management and counseling in concussion, traumatic brain injury, and pain management programs. Limitations of telehealth include barriers in establishing relationship between medical provider and patient, ability to perform limited physical examination, and differences in payment models and liability coverage. The expansion of telehealth services is expected to grow and has potential to improve patient satisfaction by delivering high quality and value of care.

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Telemedicine has been successfully used in many areas of medicine, including triage and evaluation of the acute burn patient. The utility of telemedicine during the rehabilitative phase of burn care has yet to be evaluated; therefore, we expanded our telemedicine program to link our burn center with a rehabilitation facility. The goal of this project was to demonstrate cost-effective improvements in the transition and quality of care. A retrospective review was performed on all patients enrolled in our telemedicine/rehabilitation program between March 2013 and March 2014. Data collected included total number of encounters, visits, type of visit, physician time, and readmissions. Transportation costs were based on local ambulance rates between the two facilities. The impact of telemedicine was evaluated with respect to the time saved for the physician, burn center, and burn clinic, as well as rehabilitative days saved. A patient satisfaction survey was also administered. A total of 29 patients participated in 73 virtual visits through the telemedicine project. Virtual visits included new consults, preoperative evaluations, and postoperative follow-ups. A total of 146 ambulance transports were averted during the study period, totaling $101,110. Virtual visits saved 6.8 outpatient burn clinic days, or 73 clinic appointments of 30-min duration. The ability to perform more outpatient surgery resulted in 80 inpatient bed days saved at the burn hospital. The rehabilitation hospital saved an average of 2 to 3 patient days secondary to unnecessary travel. Satisfaction surveys demonstrated patient satisfaction with the encounters, primarily related to time saved. The decrease in travel time for the patient from the rehabilitation hospital to outpatient burn clinic improved adherence to the rehabilitation care plan and resulted in increased throughput at the rehabilitation facility. Videoconferencing between a burn center and rehabilitation hospital streamlined patient care and reduced health care costs, while maintaining quality of care and patient satisfaction. This program has improved inpatient burn rehabilitation by maximizing time spent in therapy and avoiding unnecessary patient travel to offsite appointments.

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OBJECTIVE: To examine functional status versus medical comorbidities as predictors of acute care readmissions in medically complex patients. DESIGN: Retrospective database study. SETTING: U.S. inpatient rehabilitation facilities. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects included 120,957 patients in the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation admitted to inpatient rehabilitation facilities under the medically complex impairment group code between 2002 and 2011. INTERVENTIONS: A Basic Model based on gender and functional status was developed using logistic regression to predict the odds of 3-, 7-, and 30-day readmission from inpatient rehabilitation facilities to acute care hospitals. Functional status was measured by the FIM(®) motor score. The Basic Model was compared to six other predictive models-three Basic Plus Models that added a comorbidity measure to the Basic Model and three Gender-Comorbidity Models that included only gender and a comorbidity measure. The three comorbidity measures used were the Elixhauser index, Deyo-Charlson index, and Medicare comorbidity tier system. The c-statistic was the primary measure of model performance. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We investigated 3-, 7-, and 30-day readmission to acute care hospitals from inpatient rehabilitation facilities. RESULTS: Basic Model c-statistics predicting 3-, 7-, and 30-day readmissions were 0.69, 0.64, and 0.65, respectively. The best-performing Basic Plus Model (Basic+Elixhauser) c-statistics were only 0.02 better than the Basic Model, and the best-performing Gender-Comorbidity Model (Gender+Elixhauser) c-statistics were more than 0.07 worse than the Basic Model. CONCLUSIONS: Readmission models based on functional status consistently outperform models based on medical comorbidities. There is opportunity to improve current national readmission risk models to more accurately predict readmissions by incorporating functional data.

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BACKGROUND: Changes in academic medicine have left clerkship directors (CDs) anxious about their career pathway, because clerkship administrative efforts may detract from other activities. PURPOSE: The Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) asked members about benefits of being a CD or CDIM membership toward career development. METHODS: Responses were on 1-5 Likert scales with 5 (strongly agree). Background and demographic issues were analyzed for associations with the career benefits statements. RESULTS: The response rate was 75% (n = 92). Mean agreement with CD benefit was 4.2 (SD = 0.82) and CDIM membership 3.8 (SD = 0.95). Eighty-one percent and 58% of CDs agreed with the respective statements. Significant predictors of CD benefit were CD and coordinator salary support, years as CD, and receiving a university teaching award. Structured discussions of expectations strongly predicted perceiving CDIM benefit. CONCLUSIONS: Most CDs agreed that their CD role and CDIM benefited their careers. Salary support and clearly defining expectations may increase the likelihood of perceiving benefit.

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