1058 Experience of VA Telesleep Medicine Following the COVID Pandemic

Abstract Introduction The VA Telesleep Enterprise Wide Initiative (EWI) operated from 2017 through 2023 and focused on increasing sleep medicine care to rural Veterans. Part of the Telesleep EWI was promotion of telehealth visits to improve access to sleep medicine care for rural Veterans. This report examines the significant growth of telesleep visits during the COVID-19 pandemic and the strong sustainment in Telesleep care in EWI sites post-pandemic. EWI sites participated in weekly clinical support meetings and best practices sharing to foster uptake and improvement of telesleep clinical work. Non EWI sites did not have access this support network. Methods Data regarding clinical visits for sleep medicine at a national level were obtained from the VA Corporate Data Warehouse by trained and experienced data analysts. Data from 2019 through fiscal year 2023 were obtained which spans the pre-pandemic to the post-pandemic time frame. The data were analyzed by medical center based on whether the site was part of the Telesleep EWI or not part of the EWI. In this report only rural Veterans were analyzed. Results From 2019 to 2023, for rural Veterans, the proportion of total sleep medicine visits performed using telehealth modalities increased from 25% to 56% for sites in the Telesleep EWI compared to 16% to 36% in the non EWI sites. Comparing Telesleep visits at the peak of pandemic in 2021-22 to post-pandemic 2023, Telesleep visits peaked at 61% and decreased to 56% in 2023 for the EWI sites and peaked at 52% and decreased to 36% in non EWI sites. Conclusion The COVID -19 pandemic resulted in rapid changes in healthcare delivery for many clinical services including sleep medicine. Post-COVID-19 many clinicians returned to previous care delivery models. In VA, where telesleep medicine virtual care was strongly supported in the EWI, sites showed greater sustainment of virtual care compared to non EWI sites. We speculate that ongoing support of clinicians through training and expert support in the EWI accounted for this better sustainment of virtual care. Support (if any) VA Office of Rural Health; VA Office of Connected Care; VA HSR&D Merit Review