ArticleJournal of telemedicine and telecare2023
Impact of a large-scale telemedicine network on emergency visits and hospital admissions during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Brazil: Data from the UNIMED-BH system.
Article in Journal of telemedicine and telecare, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Patient-reported experiences and outcomes of virtual care during COVID-19: a systematic review.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2023Pooled it
- Telehealth-Based Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review of Features and Challenges.Frontiers in public healthPooled it
- Transforming the Indian Private Sector for Universal Health Coverage.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Telemedicine for COVID-19 management in Brazil: outcomes and health system implications from a prospective cohort study.The journal of venomous animals and toxins including tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Review
- Mapping Digital Public Health Interventions Among Existing Digital Technologies and Internet-Based Interventions to Maintain and Improve Population Health in Practice: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Utilization of telehealth services in low- and middle-income countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic: a narrative summary.Global health action · 2023Review
- Telemedicine in Low- and Middle-Income Countries During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Cardiovascular Statistics - Brazil 2021.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2022Article
- Avoidable Cardiovascular Events: A Serious Side Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2021Article
- Reduction in Hospital Admissions Associated with Coronary Events during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Brazilian Private Health System: Data from the UNIMED-BH System.Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical · 2021Article
- Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Burnout on Cardiovascular Risk in Healthcare Professionals Study Protocol: A Multicenter Exploratory Longitudinal Study.Frontiers in medicine · 2020Article
- Too early for admission? A Telemedicine follow up comparison of mild COVID-19 patients from the Emergency Department and Clinics.International journal of health sciencesArticle
- Telemedicine monitoring of high-risk coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients by family medicine service after discharge from the emergency department.Journal of family & community medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionTriage by on-demand telemedicine is a strategy for healthcare surge control in the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to assess the impact of a large-scale COVID-19 telemedicine system on emergency department (ED) visits and all-cause and cardiovascular hospital admissions in Brazil.
methodsFrom March 18, 2020-May 18, 2020 we evaluated the database of a cooperative private health insurance, with 1.28 million clients. The COVID-19 telemedicine system consisted of: a) mobile app, which redirects to teleconsultations if indicated; b) telemonitoring system, with regular phone calls to suspected/confirmed COVID-19 cases to monitor progression; c) emergency ambulance system (EAS), with internet phone triage and counselling. ED visits and hospital admissions were recorded, with diagnoses assessed by the Diagnosis Related Groups method. COVID-19 diagnosis and deaths were identified from the patients' registries, and outcomes assessed until June 1st.
resultsIn 60 days, 24,354 patients accessed one of the telemedicine systems. The most frequently utilized was telemonitoring (16,717, 69%), followed by teleconsultation (13,357, 55%) and EAS (687, 3%). The rates of ED and hospital admissions were: telemonitoring 19.7% (3,296) and 4.7% (782); teleconsultation 17.3% (2,313) and 2.4% (318) and EAS: 55.9% (384) and 56.5% (388) patients. At total 4.1% (1,010) had hospital admissions, 36% (363) with respiratory diseases (44 requiring mechanical ventilation) and 4.4% (44) with cardiovascular diagnoses. Overall, 277 (1.1%) patients had confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, and 160 (0.7%) died, 9 with COVID-19.
conclusionTelemedicine resulted in low rates of ED visits and hospital admissions, suggesting positive impacts on healthcare utilization. Cardiovascular admissions were remarkably rare.
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