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ABSTRACT: Background
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic increased the use of telehealth within medicine. Data on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics associated with telehealth utilization among cancer surgical patients have not been well-defined.Methods
Cancer patients who had a surgical oncology visit at the James Cancer Hospital in March 2020-May 2021 were included. Patient demographic and clinical characteristics were recorded; access to modern information technology was measured using the Digital Divide Index (DDI). A logistic regression model was used to assess odds of receiving a telehealth.Results
Among 2942 patients, median DDI was 18.2 (interquartile range 17.4-22.1). Patients were most often insured through managed care (n = 1459, 49.6%), followed by Medicare (n = 1109, 37.7%) and Medicaid (n = 267, 9.1%). Overall, 722 patients (24.5%) received at least one telehealth visit over the study period. On multivariable analysis, age (odds ratio [OR] 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.80-0.98 per 10-year increase), sex (male vs. female: OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.45-2.32), cancer type (pancreatic vs. breast: OR 9.19, 95% CI 6.38-13.23; colorectal vs. breast: OR 5.31, 95% CI 3.71-7.58), insurance type (Medicare vs. Medicaid: OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.04-2.41) and county of residence (distant vs. neighboring: OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.06-1.66) were associated with increased odds of receiving a telehealth visit. Patients from high DDI counties were not less likely to receive telehealth visits versus patients from low DDI counties (OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.85-1.57).Conclusions
Several patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics had an impact on the likelihood of receiving a telehealth visit versus an in-person visit, suggesting that telehealth may not be equally accessible to all surgical oncology patients.
SUBMITTER: Paro A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9331038 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Paro Alessandro A Rice Daniel R DR Hyer J Madison JM Palmer Elizabeth E Ejaz Aslam A Shaikh Chanza Fahim CF Pawlik Timothy M TM
Annals of surgical oncology 20220727 12
<h4>Background</h4>The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic increased the use of telehealth within medicine. Data on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics associated with telehealth utilization among cancer surgical patients have not been well-defined.<h4>Methods</h4>Cancer patients who had a surgical oncology visit at the James Cancer Hospital in March 2020-May 2021 were included. Patient demographic and clinical characteristics were recorded; access to modern information techno ...[more]