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Factors Associated with Using Telemedicine in the Primary Care Clinics during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic generated an extraordinary need for telemedicine. Objective: To identify the factors and multi-way interactions associated with telemedicine use in primary healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This population-based study included all members (2,722,773)...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Reges, Orna, Feldhamer, Ilan, Wolff Sagy, Yael, Lavie, Gil
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9603207/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36293788
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013207
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author Reges, Orna
Feldhamer, Ilan
Wolff Sagy, Yael
Lavie, Gil
author_facet Reges, Orna
Feldhamer, Ilan
Wolff Sagy, Yael
Lavie, Gil
author_sort Reges, Orna
collection PubMed
description Background: The COVID-19 pandemic generated an extraordinary need for telemedicine. Objective: To identify the factors and multi-way interactions associated with telemedicine use in primary healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This population-based study included all members (2,722,773) aged ≥18 years of the largest healthcare organization in Israel who used primary care clinic services between 1 March 2020 and 31 December 2021. Individuals were classified as telemedicine users (≥1 phone/video visits or asynchronous encounters) or non-telemedicine users (only in-person encounter/s). Results: Ethnicity was the most discriminative variable associated with telemedicine use, with 85% and 52% users among Jews and Arabs, respectively. Higher odds for telemedicine utilization were observed among women, residents of urban areas, those confined to home, individuals with high level of technology literacy, residents of the central area (in Jews only), young Jews, and older Arabs. Based on decision tree analysis, the segments of the population with the lowest telemedicine use were characterized by lower primary care needs and comorbidities, as well as low technology literacy. The proportion of telemedicine use in these groups was 56% and 27% in Jews and in Arabs, respectively. Conclusion: A proactive intervention program should be applied among populations who are less likely to use telemedicine in the primary care clinics, including Arabs, Jews who live in the distant periphery, and individuals with low technology literacy.
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spelling pubmed-96032072022-10-27 Factors Associated with Using Telemedicine in the Primary Care Clinics during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel Reges, Orna Feldhamer, Ilan Wolff Sagy, Yael Lavie, Gil Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: The COVID-19 pandemic generated an extraordinary need for telemedicine. Objective: To identify the factors and multi-way interactions associated with telemedicine use in primary healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This population-based study included all members (2,722,773) aged ≥18 years of the largest healthcare organization in Israel who used primary care clinic services between 1 March 2020 and 31 December 2021. Individuals were classified as telemedicine users (≥1 phone/video visits or asynchronous encounters) or non-telemedicine users (only in-person encounter/s). Results: Ethnicity was the most discriminative variable associated with telemedicine use, with 85% and 52% users among Jews and Arabs, respectively. Higher odds for telemedicine utilization were observed among women, residents of urban areas, those confined to home, individuals with high level of technology literacy, residents of the central area (in Jews only), young Jews, and older Arabs. Based on decision tree analysis, the segments of the population with the lowest telemedicine use were characterized by lower primary care needs and comorbidities, as well as low technology literacy. The proportion of telemedicine use in these groups was 56% and 27% in Jews and in Arabs, respectively. Conclusion: A proactive intervention program should be applied among populations who are less likely to use telemedicine in the primary care clinics, including Arabs, Jews who live in the distant periphery, and individuals with low technology literacy. MDPI 2022-10-14 /pmc/articles/PMC9603207/ /pubmed/36293788 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013207 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Reges, Orna
Feldhamer, Ilan
Wolff Sagy, Yael
Lavie, Gil
Factors Associated with Using Telemedicine in the Primary Care Clinics during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel
title Factors Associated with Using Telemedicine in the Primary Care Clinics during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel
title_full Factors Associated with Using Telemedicine in the Primary Care Clinics during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel
title_fullStr Factors Associated with Using Telemedicine in the Primary Care Clinics during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel
title_full_unstemmed Factors Associated with Using Telemedicine in the Primary Care Clinics during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel
title_short Factors Associated with Using Telemedicine in the Primary Care Clinics during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel
title_sort factors associated with using telemedicine in the primary care clinics during the covid-19 pandemic in israel
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9603207/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36293788
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013207
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