Virtual and In-Person Psychiatric Care: Appointment Completion and Capacity Use in a Public Mental Health Service in Peru
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Objective
To compare appointment completion and offered-slot utilization between virtual and in-person outpatient psychiatric care in Peru.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective ecological longitudinal study using routinely collected monthly aggregate administrative indicators from January 2022 through June 2026, with modality-month as the unit. Virtual-minus-in-person differences and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using Newey-West standard errors with 12 lags. June 2026 was partial; slot utilization was restricted to 2024–2026.
Results
Across 54 paired months, mean completion was 90.9% (SD=3.9) for virtual and 83.8% (SD=2.7) for in-person care; difference +7.2 percentage points (95% CI=4.4–9.9). Across 30 paired months, slot utilization was 73.0% (SD=8.3) and 90.5% (SD=3.8), respectively; difference −17.5 percentage points (95% CI=−24.5 to −10.4). Sensitivity analyses were similar.
Conclusions
Virtual care had higher completion but lower slot utilization. Attendance and capacity use should be evaluated separately when planning hybrid psychiatric services.
