Early postoperative telehealth visit protocol implementation reduces emergency department utilization following benign foregut procedures.

Tarik K Yuce, Patrick J Sweigert, Roukaya T Hassanein, Theresa N Wang, Melissa Himes, Kelly R Haisley, Kyle A Perry

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Article in Surgical endoscopy, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

Identifying drivers of emergency department overutilization following bariatric surgery: insights from the MBSAQIP.Surgery for obesity and related diseases : official journal of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery · 2025
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7 authors.

Tarik K YuceDepartment of Surgery, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, 395 W 12Th Ave #670, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4575-6368

Patrick J SweigertDepartment of Surgery, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, 395 W 12Th Ave #670, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.

Roukaya T HassaneinDepartment of Surgery, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, 395 W 12Th Ave #670, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.

Theresa N WangDepartment of Surgery, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, 395 W 12Th Ave #670, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.

Melissa HimesDepartment of Surgery, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, 395 W 12Th Ave #670, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.

Kelly R HaisleyDepartment of Surgery, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, 395 W 12Th Ave #670, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.

Kyle A PerryDepartment of Surgery, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, 395 W 12Th Ave #670, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA. Kyle.Perry@osumc.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionEmergency department (ED) visits and readmissions following benign foregut surgery (BFS) represent a burden on patients and the health care system. The objective of this study was to identify differences in ED visits and readmissions before and after implementation of an early postoperative telehealth visit protocol for BFS. We hypothesized that utilization of telehealth visits would be associated with reduced post-operative ED and hospital utilization.

methodsAn early postoperative telehealth protocol was initiated in 2020 at an academic medical center to provide a video conference within the first postoperative week. Consecutive elective BFS including fundoplication, Linx, paraesophageal hernia repair, and Heller myotomy performed between 2018 and 2022 were included. Outcomes included ED visits and 30-day readmission. Bivariate analyses were performed using Chi-squared testing for categorical variables. The association between telehealth visits and outcomes were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression.

results616 patients underwent BFS during the study period. 310 (50.3%) were performed prior to the implementation of telehealth visits and 306 (49.7%) were after. 241 patients in the telehealth visit group (78.8%) completed their telehealth visit. A total of 34 patients (5.5%) had ED visits without readmission while 38 patients (6.2%) were readmitted within the first 30 days. The most common cause of ED visits and readmissions included pain (n = 18, 25%) and nausea/vomiting (n = 12, 16%). There was a significant reduction in ED visits without admission following telehealth visit implementation (7.4% vs 3.6%; OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.04-4.65, p = 0.04). There was no difference in readmission rates (6.1% versus 6.5%; OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.46-1.73, p = 0.73). The telehealth cohort had significantly lower ED visits for pain (31% vs 16.7%, p = 0.04) and nausea/vomiting (23.8% vs 6.7%, p = 0.02). DISCUSSION: Early telehealth follow-up was associated with a significant decrease in ED visits following BFS. The majority of this was attributable to a reduction in ED visits for pain, nausea, and vomiting. These results provide a possible avenue for improving quality and cost-effectiveness within this patient population.

Indexed as

Emergency Service, HospitalTelemedicineHumansNauseaPainPatient ReadmissionRetrospective StudiesVomitingBenign foregut surgeryED visitsHealthcare utilizationReadmissionsTelehealth

Identifiers

PMID37491655

DOI10.1007/s00464-023-10247-y

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.