Using electronic visits (E-visits) to achieve goal serum urate levels in patients with gout in a rheumatology practice: A pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: Achieving goal serum urate levels in patients with gout remains difficult in primary care and rheumatology practices. This study measured the ability of an asynchronous electronic visit (E-visit) program to facilitate achieving a goal serum urate (SU) of less than 6.0 mg/dL. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study in a large academic medical center rheumatology practice between April 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018. Patients with gout and SU levels over 6.0 mg/dL were enrolled in an E-visit program and were compared with historical controls who received usual care, matched 1:1 for age and sex. The primary outcome of interest was the proportion of patients achieving SU target of less than 6.0 mg/dL at six months. RESULTS: Sixty-two patients were enrolled by their rheumatologist in the gout asynchronous E-visit program and were compared to 62 historical controls who were seen within one year prior to E-visit program initiation. Baseline characteristics including age, sex, body mass index, renal function, and initial SU were similar among patients enrolled in the E-visit program and controls. At six months, a significantly higher proportion of patients in the E-visit program achieved goal SU of less than 6.0 mg/dL compared to controls (63.8% vs 33.9%, respectively, p < 0.01), and the E-visit patients had a lower mean SU level than historical controls (5.5 mg/dL versus 6.7 mg/dL, respectively, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: A physician-initiated E-visit program led to a substantial improvement in the rate of achieving goal SU among patients with gout within an academic rheumatology practice.