Medscape: Telemedicine in Cancer Care: Not All Patients Can Access Newly released study findings demonstrated that despite the increased use in telemedicine among patients across more than 20 cancer types, inequities in its usage remain. The largest disparity in telemedicine use was in people based on socioeconomic status —10.6% of patients living in the lowest socioeconomic status [...]
Managed Healthcare Executive: Pandemic Surge in Telehealth Did Not Worsen Healthcare Disparity: Johns Hopkins researchers Findings reported in this month’s Health Affairs show high use of telehealth in disadvantaged neighborhoods among beneficiaries after Medicare restrictions on telehealth were waived. Sanuja Bose and other researchers at Johns Hopkins found that after CMS waived telehealth restrictions in March [...]
Healthcare IT News: Broadband access, outdated laws among hurdles to equitable telehealth, says NCQA The National Committee for Quality Assurance this week released a white paper exploring the root causes of disparities in virtual care access. The report, which grew out of an NCQA roundtable discussion on the future of telehealth, outlines existing barriers to equity and recommendations for [...]
AARP: Interest in Telehealth Holds Steady Two Years Into Pandemic According to a recent AARP report, nearly one in three adults (32 percent) age 50 or older are either extremely or very interested in telehealth services, for themselves or a loved one. The survey found greater interest in telehealth services among nonwhite populations, including 45 percent [...]
Penn Medicine News: Racial Gap in Completed Doctor Visits Disappeared in 2020 as Telemedicine Adopted A Penn Medicine study found that as COVID-19 necessitated the wider adoption of telemedicine, the rate of completed primary care visits for Black patients rose to the same level of non-Black patients. The study showed that completed primary care visits rose from [...]
mHealth Intelligence: Disparities Common in Telehealth Use Among Pediatric CHIP Patients According to data from Alabama’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), ALL Kids, researchers found that telehealth use was less common among those living in rural areas and members of lower-income families. Researchers also noted that children living in large or small rural areas were less likely [...]
mHealth Intelligence: Telemedicine expands care access for spine patients A study published in the Global Spine Journal found that visits conducted through telemedicine increased accessibility for spine patients with low socioeconomic status. Spine patients missed 51.3 percent of in-person appointments, significantly higher than the 24.7 percent of telemedicine appointments that patients did not attend, among other findings. Researchers concluded [...]
JACC Heart Failure: Assessing Telehealth for the Outpatient Management of Heart Failure A recent study found that telehealth for outpatients with heart failure allowed for distanced encounters without increases in subsequent acute care or death. Researchers recommend using standardized assessments before outpatient visits to help triage patients with heart failure to telehealth or in-person visits. [...]
Fierce Healthcare: Rural residents face racial inequities in accessing hospital care, study finds. Telehealth, policy changes help close the gaps According to a recent study, rural residents who are Black, American Indian or Alaska Native are more likely to live further from a hospital than white rural residents. The researchers suggested multi-pronged approaches to equity, including [...]