Telehealth provides a comprehensive approach to the surgical patient

Background: This study describes telehealth use within the Department of Surgery in a large urban academic medical center and its role in diverse surgical patients.

Methods: We performed a retrospective descriptive study of video telehealth visits conducted by an academic urban surgery department from February 2017 to November 2017. We report our experience in accordance with the National Quality Forum recommended domains of access, experience and effectiveness.

Results: Six hundred and fifty-five (655) video telehealth encounters were performed during the study period: 152 were immediate postoperative visits, 424 were established patient visits, and 79 were group sessions. Our 30-day readmission rate of the post-operative visits was very low (4 of 152). One hundred and forty-one (141) patient survey responses show very high satisfaction and time savings.

Conclusions: Our results demonstrate a single institution's successful experience in offering telehealth to surgical patients in an urban setting.