National survey trends in telehealth use in 2021: disparities in utilization and audio vs. video services
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- ASPE issue brief
- Author(s):
- Karimi, Madjid, author Lee, Euny C., author Couture, Sara J., author Gonzales, Aldren, author Grigorescu, Violanda, author Smith, Scott R., author De Lew, Nancy, author Sommers, Benjamin D., author
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Office of Health Policy, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, D.C. : Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of Health Policy, February 1, 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Facilities and Services Utilization -- statistics & numerical data Healthcare Disparities -- statistics & numerical data Telemedicine -- statistics & numerical data Telemedicine -- trends Videoconferencing -- statistics & numerical data Videoconferencing -- trends United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Telehealth use increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, but research suggests that access to telehealth was not equitable across different population subgroups. This report analyzes data regarding telehealth use from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey from April to October 2021. Overall during the study period, we found that one in four respondents (23.1%) reported use of telehealth services in the previous four weeks. Telehealth use rates were similar (21.1-26.8%) among most demographic subgroups but were much lower among those who were uninsured (9.4%) and young adults ages 18 to 24 (17.6%). The highest rates of telehealth visits were among those with Medicaid (29.3%) and Medicare (27.4%), Black individuals (26.8%), and those earning less than $25,000 (26.7%). There were significant disparities among subgroups in terms of audio versus video telehealth use. Among telehealth users, the highest share of visits that utilized video services occurred among young adults ages 18 to 24 (72.5%), those earning at least $100,000 (68.8%), those with private insurance (65.9%), and White individuals (61.9%). Video telehealth rates were lowest among those without a high school diploma (38.1%), adults ages 65 and older (43.5%), and Latino (50.7%), Asian (51.3%) and Black individuals (53.6%). Policy efforts to ensure equitable access to telehealth, in particular video-enabled telehealth, are needed to ensure that disparities that emerged during the pandemic do not become permanent.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (15 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918590087506676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918590087506676