Telemedicine and HIV Care: Weathering the COVID-19 Pandemic

At one healthcare group, telemedicine was vastly preferred over the physical clinic, yielding a lower no-show rate and no decline in HIV RNA suppression.

Telemedicine clinics for persons infected with HIV-1 have been in use for many years, serving patients who live in remote locations or are incarcerated. It should come as no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic has expanded the use of telemedicine dramatically. To examine the effects of providing telemedicine care for persons with HIV-1 infection during COVID-19, investigators at a single subspecialty clinic compared outcomes of patients with telemedicine-based evaluation versus those seen in person at a clinic. All patients had a primary care provider; visits for HIV-1 infection were scheduled annually, with laboratory studies being obtained twice-yearly.

Over the 3-year study period beginning in 2020 a total of 974 visits occurred, 670 of w…

Reviewing Author

Neil M. Ampel, MD

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Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesCoccidioidomycosis Study Group (Past President, Secretary, Treasurer)

Neil M. Ampel, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesCoccidioidomycosis Study Group (Past President, Secretary, Treasurer)

Telemedicine and HIV Care: Weathering the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Reviewing Author