title: Characteristics of patients who seek care via eVisits instead of office visits.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is growing recognition that many physician-patient encounters do not require face-to-face contact. The availability of secure Internet portals creates the opportunity for online eVisits. Increasing numbers of health systems provide eVisits, and many health plans reimburse for eVisits. However, little is known on who chooses to seek care via an eVisit.
  
  
  METHODS
  At four primary care practices, we used the electronic medical record to identify all eVisits and office visits for sinusitis and urinary tract infections (UTIs) between January 2010 and May 2011. From the electronic medical record we abstracted the necessary information on patient demographics. The population studied included 5,165 sinusitis visits (9% of which were eVisits) and 2,954 UTI visits (3% eVisits).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In multivariate models controlling for other patient factors, the variables most strongly associated with a patient initiating an eVisit versus an office visit were age (18-44 years of age versus 65 years of age and older: sinusitis, odds ratio 1.65 [0.97-2.81]; UTI, 2.97 [1.03-8.62]) and longer travel distance to clinic (>10 miles from patient home to clinic versus 0-5 miles: sinusitis, odds ratio 6.54 [4.68-9.16]; UTI, odds ratio 3.25 [1.74-6.07]). Higher income was not associated with higher eVisit use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At these four primary care practices, eVisits accounted for almost 7% of visits for sinusitis and UTI. eVisits attract a younger patient population who might use eVisits for convenience reasons.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15123, USA. mehrotra@rand.org
authors.forename: Ateev
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehrotra
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paone
authors.forename: G Daniel
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Martich
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.forename: Grant J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Shevchik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010414:Pennsylvania / Q000453:epidemiology; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012852:Sinusitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult