How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the utilisation of online consultation and face-to-face medical treatment? An interrupted time-series study in Beijing, China

ObjectiveThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on healthcare utilisation. This study aimed to quantify how the online and face-to-face utilisation of healthcare services changed during this time and thus gain insights into the planning of future healthcare resources during the outbreak of infectious diseases. DesignThis work is an interrupted time-series study. SettingMonthly hospital-grade healthcare-service data from 22 tertiary first-class public hospitals managed by the Beijing Hospital Authority and online-consultation data from GoodDoctor were used in this study. MethodsThis is an interrupted time-series study about the change in face-to-face and online healthcare utilisation before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. We compared the impact of COVID-19 on the primary outcomes of both face-to-face healthcare utilisation (outpatient and emergency visits, discharge volume) and online healthcare utilisation (online consultation volume). And we also analysed the impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare utilisation of different types of diseases. ResultsThe monthly average outpatient visits and discharges decreased by 36.33% and 35.75%, respectively, compared with those in 2019 in 22 public hospitals in Beijing. Moreover, the monthly average online consultations increased by 90.06%. A highly significant reduction occurred in the mean outpatients and inpatients, which dropped by 1 755 930 cases (p<0.01) and 5 920 000 cases (p<0.01), respectively. Online consultations rose by 3650 cases (p<0.05). We identified an immediate and significant drop in healthcare services for four major diseases, that is, acute myocardial infarction (-174, p<0.1), lung cancer (-2502, p<0.01), disk disease (-3756, p<0.01) and Parkinson's disease (-205, p<0.01). Otherwise, online consultations for disk disease (63, p<0.01) and Parkinson's disease (25, p<0.05) significantly increased. More than 1300 unique physicians provided online-consultation services per month in 2020, which was 35.3% higher than in 2019. ConclusionsObvious complementary trends in online and face-to-face healthcare services existed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Different changes in healthcare utilisation were shown for different diseases. Non-critically ill patients chose online consultation immediately after the COVID-19 lockdown, but critically ill patients chose hospital healthcare services first. Additionally, the volume of online physician services significantly rose as a result of COVID-19.

Automated summary

This study quantified the changes in online and face-to-face healthcare utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to provide insights for future healthcare resource planning during infectious disease outbreaks. Results showed a decrease in outpatient visits and discharges, while online consultations increased significantly. Different diseases exhibited different patterns of healthcare utilization.