Trends in Telehealth Antibiotic Prescribing for Children Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVESTelehealth visits increased significantly during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic without consensus on the appropriate scope of telehealth antibiotic prescribing within pediatric primary care. We describe telehealth antibiotic prescribing patterns within our statewide pediatric primary care network during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.METHODSIn a retrospective observational study of a large statewide pediatric primary care network, we identified and analyzed telehealth and in-person encounters with oral antibiotics prescribed from March 2020 to July 2021. We focused on the top 5 general diagnosis groupings using International Classification of Disease 10 codes.RESULTSOf the 55 926 encounters with an oral antibiotic prescribed, 12.5% were conducted via telehealth and 87.5% in person. The proportion of telehealth antibiotic encounters varied significantly according to diagnosis category (P CONCLUSIONSTelehealth continues to be used to prescribe antibiotics even after the initial stage of the pandemic. Clinicians and patients would benefit from clearer guidelines about the appropriate use of antibiotics prescribed during telehealth encounters.