Introduction:
At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, remote spine care was heavily utilized out of necessity due to closure of in-person clinics and efforts at physical distancing. However, data on rates of telemedicine utilization and satisfaction after reopening of in-person clinical visits remain unknown.

Methods:
All patients who had an in-person or telemedicine visit in the Spine Surgery, Physiatry, or Pain Management departments at an urban tertiary specialty hospital from April, 1, 2020 – April, 15, 2021 were identified. Peak coronavirus pandemic period was defined as from April, 1, 2020 – May, 31, 2020 based on daily case volumes at the authors’ institution location. Rates of overall telemedicine utilization as well as categorized by specialty and type (new patient versus follow-up) over time were delineated. Patient satisfaction with telemedicine, as assessed through a series of questionnaires, was also evaluated over time.

Results:
Overall, 60,368 patients who had an in-person or telemedicine visit in the Spine Surgery, Physiatry, or Pain Management departments during the study period were identified. Of these, 19,568 patients (32.4%) had a telemedicine visit. During the peak coronavirus pandemic period, rate of overall telemedicine utilization was greater than 90%. After the peak period, the rate of overall telemedicine utilization was at approximately 29% of all visits per month. With regards to patient satisfaction, the rate of top-box response to the question "How likely is it that you would recommend telehealth visits to friends" remained statistically similar throughout the study period (p>0.05 for both).

Conclusions:
The rate of telemedicine utilization in spine patients remains high, at approximately 1/3 of all visits, even after the peak coronavirus pandemic period. In addition, patient satisfaction with telemedicine remained consistent throughout the study period, regardless of pandemic restrictions on in-person visits.