Health care utilization following "digi-physical" assessment compared to physical assessment for infectious symptoms in primary care.

backgroundThe use of chat-based digital visits (eVisits) to assess infectious symptoms in primary care is rapidly increasing. The "digi-physical" model of care uses eVisits as the first line of assessment while assuming a certain proportion of patients will inevitably need to be further assessed through urgent physical examination within 48 h. It is unclear to what extent this approach can mitigate physical visits compared to assessing patients directly using office visits.

methodsThis pre-COVID-19-pandemic observational study followed up "digi-physical" eVisit patients (

resultsNo significant differences in subsequent physical visits within two weeks (excluding the first 48 h) were noted following "digi-physical" care compared to office visits (179 (18.0%) vs. 102 (17.6%),

conclusionsMost eVisit patients (68.9%) with respiratory and urinary symptoms have no subsequent physical visits. Beyond an unavoidable portion of patients requiring urgent physical examination within 48 h, "digi-physical" management of respiratory and urinary symptoms results in comparable subsequent health care utilization compared to office visits. eVisit providers may need to optimize use of resources to minimize the proportion of patients being assessed both digitally and physically within 48 h as part of the "digi-physical" concept.

trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT03474887. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12875-021-01618-2.