Ob/Gyn & Women’s Health Institute Outcomes

There is limited data on healthcare resource utilization (HRU) after urogynecologic surgery in patients who were counseled preoperatively using telehealth rather than in-person visits. We performed a retrospective cohort study of women who underwent apical prolapse surgery from January 2017 to December 2020 at our center. We compared how often patients who received in-person versus telephone preoperative teaching south early medical care (patient-initiated calls, unscheduled outpatient visits, emergency department visits or hospital readmissions) before their scheduled postoperative visit. We found that 3 out of 4 women had at least one unanticipated HRU encounter within 6 weeks post-surgery. Preoperative teaching method was not associated with significantly increased rate of unanticipated healthcare encounters postoperatively. Additionally, no significant difference was observed between office and phone groups in a number of events and reasons for seeking medical care for each encounter type.

Study published 4.17.2023