Tele-Urology During COVID-19: Rapid Implementation of Remote Video Visits.

Introduction: COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges to the delivery of urological care. Following rapid implementation of remote video visits at our tertiary academic medical center serving a large rural population we describe and assess our experience with planned video visits and ongoing scheduling efforts.
Methods: Patients scheduled for video visits between April 14 and April 27, 2020 were included. Prospective and retrospective data were collected on patient and clinical characteristics as well as telemedicine outcomes. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to evaluate factors influencing video visit success. Concurrently scheduling data were collected from a separate cohort regarding patient access to technology and willingness to participate in video visits.
Results: A total of 209 patients were included with an overall video visit success rate of 67%. Of video visits that failed (69) reasons included no-show (35%), inability to connect to the telemedicine platform (23%) and lack of Internet access (10%). Nearly half of failed video visits (46.4%) were completed as phone visits. After adjustment for patient demographics commercial insurance was significantly associated with video visit success. In assessment of scheduling outcomes 179 patients were contacted to offer video visits. Of these patients 6.7% reported not having Internet access. Of those with Internet access 87% agreed to proceed with a video visit in lieu of visiting in person.
Conclusions: Our experience indicates that rapid implementation of video telemedicine is feasible and highly accepted by patients. Efforts focused on standardized pre-visit patient education may further optimize successful telemedicine visits.