Understanding Telemedicine's "New Normal": Variations in Telemedicine Use by Specialty Line and Patient Demographics.

Drake, Connor

Lian, Tyler

Cameron, Blake

Medynskaya, Kate

Bosworth, Hayden B

Shah, Kevin

2024-01-02T20:04:03Z

2024-01-02T20:04:03Z

2022-01

Background: Our objective was to examine the variation in telemedicine adoption by specialty line and patient demographic characteristics after the initial peak period of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic when in-person visits had resumed and visit volume returned to prepandemic levels. Materials and Methods: Aggregated encounter data were extracted for six service lines (dermatology, psychiatry, endocrinology, cardiology, orthopedics, and nonurgent primary care) in an integrated health system across three time periods: July 1 to September 30, 2019 (n = 239,803), July 1 to September 30, 2020 (n = 245,648), and December 29, 2019 to October 3, 2020 (n = 624,886). Risk ratios were calculated to assess the relative use of telemedicine compared with in-person encounters and telemedicine modality (i.e., synchronous audio/video vs. audio-only telephone) by patient race, age, sex, and insurance type. Results: By June 2020, total visit volume returned to prepandemic levels. Differences in patient demographics between July 1 to September 30, 2020 and the previous year's baseline were negligible. Telemedicine adoption varied by medical specialty, from 3.2% (dermatology) to 98.3% (psychiatry) of visits. African American and male patients were less likely to use telemedicine (telephone or video) compared with white and female patients. Among telemedicine encounters, African American, publicly insured, and older patients were less likely to use video compared with white, commercially insured, and younger patients. Discussion: Variation in telemedicine adoption and modality underscores the importance of balancing patient- and clinic-level implementation factors to promote sustainable, equitable telemedicine integration. Conclusion: Understanding current trends in the "new normal" of telemedicine provides valuable insights into future implementation and financing.

1530-5627

1556-3669

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/29625

eng

Mary Ann Liebert Inc

Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association

10.1089/tmj.2021.0041

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

Humans

Telemedicine

Demography

Female

Male

Pandemics

COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2

Understanding Telemedicine's "New Normal": Variations in Telemedicine Use by Specialty Line and Patient Demographics.

Journal article

Drake, Connor|0000-0002-5393-6246

Cameron, Blake|0000-0002-3063-2880

Bosworth, Hayden B|0000-0001-6188-9825

51

59

1

Duke

School of Medicine

Basic Science Departments

Clinical Science Departments

Institutes and Centers

Medicine

Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Medicine, General Internal Medicine

Medicine, Nephrology

Duke Cancer Institute

Duke Clinical Research Institute

Institutes and Provost's Academic Units

Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development

Initiatives

Duke Science & Society

Population Health Sciences

Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Behavioral Medicine & Neurosciences

Duke - Margolis Center For Health Policy

Published

28