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Disparities in Telehealth use During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus 2019 pandemic led to rapid expansion of outpatient telemedicine. We sought to characterize patient factors influencing outpatient teleneurology utilization at an urban safety-net hospital. We reviewed all neurology televisits scheduled between June 15, 2020 to April 15, 2021. We used...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lau, K. H. Vincent, Anand, Pria, Ramirez, Alex, Phicil, Sheila
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9382002/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35976473
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10903-022-01381-1
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author Lau, K. H. Vincent
Anand, Pria
Ramirez, Alex
Phicil, Sheila
author_facet Lau, K. H. Vincent
Anand, Pria
Ramirez, Alex
Phicil, Sheila
author_sort Lau, K. H. Vincent
collection PubMed
description The coronavirus 2019 pandemic led to rapid expansion of outpatient telemedicine. We sought to characterize patient factors influencing outpatient teleneurology utilization at an urban safety-net hospital. We reviewed all neurology televisits scheduled between June 15, 2020 to April 15, 2021. We used the chi-squared test and multivariate logistic regression to characterize patient demographic factors associated with televisit completion and video use. Of 8875 scheduled televisit encounters, 7530 were completed successfully, 44% via video. Non-English speaking patients, Black patients, Latinx patients, and those with a zip code-linked annual income less than $50,000 were less likely to successfully complete a scheduled televisit. The same demographic groups other than Latinx ethnicity were also less likely to use the video option. Our study found unequal telehealth utilization based on patients’ demographic factors. Currently declining telemedicine reimbursement rates asymmetrically affect audio-only visits, which may limit telehealth access for vulnerable patient populations.
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spelling pubmed-93820022022-08-17 Disparities in Telehealth use During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lau, K. H. Vincent Anand, Pria Ramirez, Alex Phicil, Sheila J Immigr Minor Health Brief Communication The coronavirus 2019 pandemic led to rapid expansion of outpatient telemedicine. We sought to characterize patient factors influencing outpatient teleneurology utilization at an urban safety-net hospital. We reviewed all neurology televisits scheduled between June 15, 2020 to April 15, 2021. We used the chi-squared test and multivariate logistic regression to characterize patient demographic factors associated with televisit completion and video use. Of 8875 scheduled televisit encounters, 7530 were completed successfully, 44% via video. Non-English speaking patients, Black patients, Latinx patients, and those with a zip code-linked annual income less than $50,000 were less likely to successfully complete a scheduled televisit. The same demographic groups other than Latinx ethnicity were also less likely to use the video option. Our study found unequal telehealth utilization based on patients’ demographic factors. Currently declining telemedicine reimbursement rates asymmetrically affect audio-only visits, which may limit telehealth access for vulnerable patient populations. Springer US 2022-08-17 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC9382002/ /pubmed/35976473 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10903-022-01381-1 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Brief Communication
Lau, K. H. Vincent
Anand, Pria
Ramirez, Alex
Phicil, Sheila
Disparities in Telehealth use During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title Disparities in Telehealth use During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full Disparities in Telehealth use During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr Disparities in Telehealth use During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Disparities in Telehealth use During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_short Disparities in Telehealth use During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_sort disparities in telehealth use during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Brief Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9382002/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35976473
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10903-022-01381-1
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