Patient Experience Scores for Telehealth Visits at an Outpatient Child Neurology Clinic: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has been widely adopted, and several studies have highlighted the benefits of telehealth. However, there are limited studies in pediatric neurology with a focus on epilepsy. The objective of this single-site retrospective cohort study was to examine patient experience scores of telehealth versus in-person established encounters in an outpatient pediatric neurology clinic.

Methods

Data were abstracted from April 1, 2020 through March 31, 2024. Variables included demographics, appointment type (telehealth vs in-person), appointment date, primary diagnosis and net promoter score (NPS) number and category. A subanalysis of epilepsy diagnosed patients, and a matched patient analysis were conducted.

Results

There were 2,863 in-person visit encounters and 635 telehealth visit encounters. Telehealth encounters had a statistically greater mean NPS of 9.7, compared with in-person visits (9.5). Both telehealth and in-person encounters had more than 90% of promoter scores, indicating a high score of 9-10. During the COVID-19 time period (defined as April 1, 2020 to May 4, 2023), NPS were higher with a mean of 9.7 for telehealth encounters, compared with in-person encounters (9.5). There were no differences in NPS post-COVID-19. Primary encounter diagnoses of Epilepsy/Seizure had a slightly greater mean NPS for telehealth visits (9.7) compared with in-person encounters (9.5). The matched patient analysis revealed no difference between telehealth and in-person encounter NPSs with means of 9.7 and 9.6, respectively.

Conclusion

NPS, which are a measure of patient experience, were superior or equal to in-person visits for pediatric neurology telehealth encounters both during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the postpandemic period.