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The Digital Divide Amongst High-Need High-Risk Veterans

High-need high-risk (HNHR) veterans are medically complex and at the highest risk of hospitalization and long-term institutionalization. Technology can mitigate challenges these veterans have in accessing healthcare. Willingness to use technology as well as access and ability to use technology were...

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Autores principales: Li, Shirley, Muralidhar, Kiranmayee, Tang, Fei, Valencia, Willy Marcos, Dang, Stuti
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8680628/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.2407
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author Li, Shirley
Muralidhar, Kiranmayee
Tang, Fei
Valencia, Willy Marcos
Dang, Stuti
author_facet Li, Shirley
Muralidhar, Kiranmayee
Tang, Fei
Valencia, Willy Marcos
Dang, Stuti
author_sort Li, Shirley
collection PubMed
description High-need high-risk (HNHR) veterans are medically complex and at the highest risk of hospitalization and long-term institutionalization. Technology can mitigate challenges these veterans have in accessing healthcare. Willingness to use technology as well as access and ability to use technology were assessed in this study. At the time of the survey, 2543 Miami VAHS veterans were listed as HNHR. 634 veterans ultimately completed the questionnaire, and 602 answered the “willingness to use video-visits” question. Of the 602 respondents, 327 (54.3%) reported they were willing for video-visits with the VA, while 275 (45.6%) were not. Those who were willing were significantly younger (P<0.001), with higher educational qualifications (P=0.002), and more health literate than those not willing (P<0.001). They were more also capable of using the Internet, more likely to use email and be enrolled in the VA’s patient portal, My HealtheVet (P<0.001). However, of the veterans who were willing, 248 (75.8%) had a device with video-capable technology. Those with video-capable technology were younger (P=0.004), more health literate (P=0.01), and less likely to be Black or African American (P=0.007). They were more capable of using the Internet, more likely to use email, and be enrolled in My HealtheVet than those without (P<0.001). Half of the respondents were willing for video-visits but a quarter of those willing lacked requisite technology, thereby making only about 41.2% of the respondents willing and video-capable. To minimize the digital divide, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, targeted measures need to address these disparities in this vulnerable population.
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spelling pubmed-86806282021-12-17 The Digital Divide Amongst High-Need High-Risk Veterans Li, Shirley Muralidhar, Kiranmayee Tang, Fei Valencia, Willy Marcos Dang, Stuti Innov Aging Abstracts High-need high-risk (HNHR) veterans are medically complex and at the highest risk of hospitalization and long-term institutionalization. Technology can mitigate challenges these veterans have in accessing healthcare. Willingness to use technology as well as access and ability to use technology were assessed in this study. At the time of the survey, 2543 Miami VAHS veterans were listed as HNHR. 634 veterans ultimately completed the questionnaire, and 602 answered the “willingness to use video-visits” question. Of the 602 respondents, 327 (54.3%) reported they were willing for video-visits with the VA, while 275 (45.6%) were not. Those who were willing were significantly younger (P<0.001), with higher educational qualifications (P=0.002), and more health literate than those not willing (P<0.001). They were more also capable of using the Internet, more likely to use email and be enrolled in the VA’s patient portal, My HealtheVet (P<0.001). However, of the veterans who were willing, 248 (75.8%) had a device with video-capable technology. Those with video-capable technology were younger (P=0.004), more health literate (P=0.01), and less likely to be Black or African American (P=0.007). They were more capable of using the Internet, more likely to use email, and be enrolled in My HealtheVet than those without (P<0.001). Half of the respondents were willing for video-visits but a quarter of those willing lacked requisite technology, thereby making only about 41.2% of the respondents willing and video-capable. To minimize the digital divide, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, targeted measures need to address these disparities in this vulnerable population. Oxford University Press 2021-12-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8680628/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.2407 Text en © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Abstracts
Li, Shirley
Muralidhar, Kiranmayee
Tang, Fei
Valencia, Willy Marcos
Dang, Stuti
The Digital Divide Amongst High-Need High-Risk Veterans
title The Digital Divide Amongst High-Need High-Risk Veterans
title_full The Digital Divide Amongst High-Need High-Risk Veterans
title_fullStr The Digital Divide Amongst High-Need High-Risk Veterans
title_full_unstemmed The Digital Divide Amongst High-Need High-Risk Veterans
title_short The Digital Divide Amongst High-Need High-Risk Veterans
title_sort digital divide amongst high-need high-risk veterans
topic Abstracts
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8680628/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.2407
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