Telehealth Availability and Usage Among Medicare Beneficiaries During the COVID-19 Pandemic, October and November 2020.

ABSTRACT:

Context

During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for telehealth services increased to reduce disease exposure for patients and providers and to meet preexisting demand for physician services in health resource shortage areas.

Objective

To estimate self-reported telehealth availability, equipment for accessing telehealth, and telehealth usage among Medicare beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design

We used data from the 2020 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) COVID-19 Fall Supplement Public Use File to estimate the weighted percentages of beneficiaries who had (a) access to telehealth before or during COVID-19; (b) equipment for accessing telehealth; and (c) telehealth visits during COVID-19. We used logistic regression to examine sociodemographic factors

SUBMITTER: Chang MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11323286 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan-Feb 01

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature