Use telehealth as needed: telehealth substitutes in-person primary care and associates with the changes in unplanned events and follow-up visits

Table 3 Risk-Adjusted Time Duration (Number of Days) until the Next Visit and the Likelihood of Follow-up Visits

	Outpatient Encounters – Telehealth and In-Person (N = 134,375)
	Baseline Pre-Pandemic (N = 89,357)	Study Period During Pandemic (N = 45,018)
	In-person Visit (N = 89,357)	Telehealth Visit (N = 17,659)	In-person Visit (N = 27,359)
IRR/OR
Number of Days until the next visit	ref	0.76 (0.75, 0.78)	0.71 (0.70, 0.72)
Probability, % (0–100)
3-Day Follow-up	ref	1.36 (1.26, 1.47)	1.38 (1.30, 1.47)
7-Day Follow-up	ref	1.36 (1.29, 1.43)	1.51 (1.45, 1.57)
14-Day Follow-up	ref	1.39 (1.33, 1.45)	1.57 (1.52, 1.62)
30-Day Follow-up	ref	1.54 (1.48, 1.61)	1.74 (1.68, 1.79)
Predicted Outcomes
Number of Days until the next visit	43.9 (43.6, 44.2)	33.4 (32.9, 33.9)	31.2 (30.8, 31.5)
Probability, % (0–100)
3-Day Follow-up	6.9 (6.7, 7.1)	9.2 (8.6, 9.7)	9.3 (8.9, 9.7)
7-Day Follow-up	17.0 (16.7, 17.2)	21.8 (21.0, 22.5)	23.5 (22.0, 24.1)
14-Day Follow-up	30.5 (30.1, 30.8)	37.8 (36.9, 38.6)	40.6 (40.1, 41.3)
30-Day Follow-up	52.0 (51.7, 52.4)	62.4 (61.6, 63.2)	65.1 (64.5, 65.7)

IRR Incidence rate ratios, OR Odds ratios. 95% confidence interval in parentheses
Entries in the top panel were the estimated IRR (or OR) from regressions of number of days until the next visits (or whether a follow-up visit happened within 3, 7, 14, or 30 days) on the study period and the visit type (telehealth or in-person), with the baseline period and in-person visits as the default group. Entries in the bottom panel were the predicted number of days until the next visit and the predicted probabilities of 3-, 7-, 14- and 30-day follow-up from the regressions. All analysis were adjusted for patient characteristics and month fixed effects. Patient characteristics included age category (65–74 yrs., 75–85 yrs. or 86 + yrs.), sex, race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White or Others), Medicaid coverage (0/1), disability entitlement (0/1), rural/urban residence (urban, suburban, large town, or small town/isolated rural), Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) score and having 3 or more chronic conditions (0/1)

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