NYU Langone increased nonurgent telehealth visits by 4,300% during pandemic

New York City-based NYU Langone Health made sweeping expansions to its telehealth program during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in an increase of urgent video visits by nearly 700 percent and nonurgent video visits by more than 4,300 percent between March 2 and April 14, 2020, according to a Jan. 31 EpicShare report.

Four things to know:

1. NYU Langone established its telehealth strategy in 2016, partnering with Epic and making MyChart the health system's digital entry point for telehealth patients. Within three years, the telehealth program had grown to cover more than 25 specialties.
   
   
2. The system rapidly expanded its telehealth program at the beginning of the pandemic, and its communications and marketing team reached out to patients through social media and emails that included links to schedule telehealth visits. In turn, NYU Langone was able to support telehealth visits for more than 8,000 patients each day during mid-April 2020.
   
   
3. The number of NYU Langone clinicians conducting video visits increased from about 600 at the beginning of 2020 to more than 5,500 when the pandemic hit.
   
   
4. As patients begin to return to more in-person care, NYU Langone predicts that 15 to 20 percent of outpatient encounters will continue to be conducted via telehealth.