Slide Presentation from the AHRQ 2007 Annual Conference

Measures of Successful Integration

• Continuity of care - the production of telemedicine visits seen by the child's regular primary care practice (PC Practice).
• Telemed visit completion - the proportion of telemed visits attempted that are completed, defined as diagnosis decisions and treatment without subsequent, in-person physical exam, lab tests or treatment.

Notes:

Primary measures of success were continuity of care and telemed visit completion.

Continuity of care was measured as the proportion of telemed visits seen by the primary care practice (PCP). This measure was applied only for children with a participating PCP. Note that we measured continuity with the practice, not with the child's designated continuity provider.

Our view on continuity is that if telemed can be used to enable a connection with the primary care practice, it could also be used to connect with the designated primary care provider. The next step, connection with the primary care provider, has little to do with telemed—telemed is just a communication technology. Instead, it has everything to do with how clinicians decide to organize their practices.

Telemed visit completion was measured as the proportion of telemed visits attempted that are completed, with completion defined as diagnosis decisions and treatment without subsequent, in-person physical exam, lab tests or treatment.