Disparities in virtual cardiology visits among Veterans Health Administration patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Veterans Health Administration (VA) rapidly expanded virtual care (defined as care delivered by video and phone), raising concerns about technology access disparities (ie, the digital divide). Virtual care was somewhat established in primary care and mental health care prepandemic, but video telehealth implementation was new for most subspecialties, including cardiology. We sought to identify patient characteristics of virtual and video-based care users in VA cardiology clinics nationally during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials and methods

Cohort study of Veteran patients across all VA facilities with a cardiology visit January 1, 2019-March 10, 2020, with follow-up January 1, 20

SUBMITTER: Tisdale RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9754629 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature