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Veteran Health Administration (VHA) patients heavily favored virtual health care visits to in-person visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study finds.
A joint research team from the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University, both based in California, found a 51.5 percent drop in in-person visits for VHA patients in December 2020 compared to December of the previous year.
The researchers also found a 362.7 percent increase in virtual health care visits during that same period.
There was also a worrying overall drop in health care use from 2019 to 2020, signaling that many were missing out on regular treatment and other prevenative screenings during the pandemic.
Researchers found a steep drop in in-person health care visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping by over 50%. Virtual visits spiked, though, with four times as many patients using it. There was an overall drop in total health care use
The overall drop in health care use during the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused thousands of deaths unrelated to the virus as people skipped regular treatments and screenings for other conditions. Pictured: A woman in New York City, New York, receives medical care at a VHA medical center on April 24
Researchers, who published their findings on Thursday in JAMA Network Open, investigated health records for patient visits either with the VHA or paid for by the agency at a third party
