Variation In Telemedicine Use And Outpatient Care During The COVID-19 Pandemic In The United States.

ABSTRACT: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spurred a rapid rise in telemedicine, but it is unclear how use has varied by clinical and patient factors during the pandemic. We examined the variation in total outpatient visits and telemedicine use across patient demographics, specialties, and conditions in a database of 16.7 million commercially insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees from January to June 2020. During the pandemic, 30.1 percent of all visits were provided via telemedicine, and the weekly number of visits increased twenty-three-fold compared with the prepandemic period. Telemedicine use was lower in communities with higher rates of poverty (31.9 percent versus 27.9 percent for the lowest and highest quartiles of poverty rate, respectively). Across specialties, the use of any telemed

SUBMITTER: Patel SY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7967498 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature