Is Telemedicine Closing the 'Race Hole' in Major Care?

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FRIDAY, Might 13, 2022 (HealthDay Information)

Here is a technique by which the pandemic didn’t exacerbate well being care disparities: A brand new research reveals that telemedicine has closed the hole in entry to main care between Black and non-Black Individuals.

Using telemedicine boomed through the pandemic, so College of Pennsylvania researchers determined to look at how that affected Black sufferers’ traditionally decrease entry to main care.

“We appeared by means of the whole yr of 2020, not simply the primary half of the yr when telemedicine was the one choice for many individuals, and the appointment completion hole between Black and non-Black sufferers closed,” mentioned research senior creator Dr. Krisda Chaiyachati, an assistant professor of medication at Penn Medication.

“Providing telemedicine, although it was for a disaster, seems to have been a major step ahead towards addressing long-standing inequities in well being care entry,” he mentioned in a college information launch.

The researchers analyzed information on visits by Black and non-Black sufferers (predominately whites) to main care suppliers within the Philadelphia space in 2019 and 2020. The research included about 1 million appointments annually.

Charges of accomplished main care visits amongst Black sufferers rose from about 60% in 2019 to greater than 80% in 2020, whereas charges amongst non-Blacks rose from about 70% to greater than 80%.

“The precise time durations the place we noticed vital beneficial properties made by Black sufferers got here when telemedicine was well-established in our well being system,” Chaiyachati mentioned. “This doesn’t look like a coincidence.”

Black sufferers have been extra seemingly to make use of telemedicine than non-Black sufferers. In 2020, about 33% of Black sufferers’ appointments have been accomplished by way of telemedicine, in contrast with 25% for non-Black sufferers, based on the findings.

The research was printed just lately within the journal Telemedicine and e-Health.

“Telemedicine allowed sufferers to hunt non-urgent main care regardless of hesitancy for in-person visits pre-vaccine,” famous research co-author Dr. Corinne Rhodes, an assistant professor of inside medication and assistant medical director of High quality in Penn Medication’s Major Care Service Line.

“Offering chronic disease management and preventive care helped return main care places of work nearer to pre-pandemic enterprise as standard,” she mentioned within the launch.

There have been issues initially of the pandemic that telemedicine would possibly widen the racial hole in entry to care, however this research provides to proof that was not the case for main care.

“Because the well being care sector — policymakers, payers, suppliers and sufferers — proceed to develop the position telemedicine might play in well being care’s future, understanding how it may be a mechanism for bettering fairness is a vital dimension to think about,” Chaiyachati mentioned.

Extra data

There’s extra on telemedicine on the American Academy of Family Physicians.

SOURCE: College of Pennsylvania, information launch, Might 9, 2022

By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter