Patient Satisfaction with Postoperative Telemedicine Versus In-Office Visits Following Primary Hip Arthroscopy: A Prospective Observational Study Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract Background: The purpose of this study was to compare satisfaction with postoperative telemedicine visits versus in-office visits among patients undergoing primary hip arthroscopy. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted involving subjects ≥18 years old undergoing primary hip arthroscopy at a single center from January 2020 to February 2021. Subjects chose between a telemedicine or in-office visit for 6-week follow-up. Patient satisfaction after the 6-week visit was assessed using an electronic survey. The primary outcome was satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 10. Intergroup comparisons of outcomes were performed using Student's t -test, Mann-Whitney U test, or Fisher's exact test. p -Values <0.05 were considered significant. Results: Seventy-five patients (28M and 47F) were enrolled in the study with mean age 41.2 ± 12.7 years. Forty-four patients (58.7%) attended in-office visits and 31 (41.3%) attended telemedicine visits. There were no significant intergroup differences in age, gender, body mass index, or American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification ( p > 0.05). There were no significant intergroup differences in satisfaction with overall care (in-office 9.6 vs. telemedicine 9.3, p  = 0.08) or the 6-week visit (in-office 9.0 vs. telemedicine 8.0, p  = 0.06). The telemedicine group more frequently reported visits taking <20 min ( p  = 0.002) and spending >10 min with their surgeon ( p  = 0.01). However, 51.6% of the telemedicine group and 74.7% of the entire cohort expressed a retrospective preference for in-office visits. Conclusions: There were no significant differences in satisfaction scores between hip arthroscopy patients assigned to telemedicine versus in-office visits for 6-week follow-up, but most patients expressed a preference for in-office visits.