Effect of Telehealth on Appointment Adherence in Newly Diagnosed HIV Patients

Abstract

Missed clinic visits within the first 12 months of initiation of antiretroviral therapy are a major risk factor and can have negative consequences on the health of newly diagnosed HIV patients. A Quality Improvement project, in an HIV clinic in North Georgia, aimed to improve newly diagnosed HIV patients’ appointment adherence to their one-month in-clinic follow-up. The project hypothesized that the addition of the two-week telehealth visit would lead to increased adherence to the one-month follow-up in-clinic appointment. Results indicated that all the patients who received a two-week telehealth visit did adhere to the one-month in-person medical visit. The one-month appointment adherence was significantly lower in the patients that did not receive the telehealth 2-week visit. A telehealth visit two weeks after the initial medical visit did elicit change and is an effective strategy to increase appointment adherence in newly diagnosed HIV patients. The health implications of improving care for newly diagnosed HIV patients are profound.