Telehealth only partially offset decreased primary care visits during pandemic: Study

Decreases in major care go to quantity had been partially offset by rising telehealth use for all sufferers through the COVID-19 pandemic, in accordance with a research revealed in Annals of Household Medication.

Zachary J. Morgan, from the American Board of Household Medication in Lexington, Kentucky, and colleagues quantified the nationwide lower in major care visits and enhance in telehealth utilization through the pandemic and explored whether or not sure teams of sufferers had been disproportionately affected. The evaluation included 1.65 million sufferers (8.83 million visits) seen at 408 practices.

The researchers discovered that through the pandemic, there have been decreases of seven% in whole quantity and 17% for in-person go to quantity, yielding a ten% telehealth conversion ratio. The best decreases in go to quantity had been seen amongst pediatric sufferers (−24%), Asian sufferers (−11%), and people with extra comorbidities (−9%). Hispanic or Latino sufferers (17%) and sufferers residing in city areas (12%) had the very best telehealth utilization.

“These variations [in telehealth utilization] have implications not just for the long-term penalties of the COVID-19 pandemic, but in addition for planners looking for to prepared the first care supply system for any future systematic disruptions and to mitigate any potential exacerbation of present disparities,” the authors write.

2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.