ArticleBMC primary care2022
Examining telehealth use among primary care patients, providers, and clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in BMC primary care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pandemic Telehealth Utilization Among Ambulatory Care Diabetes Patients Managed at an Urban Teaching Hospital in Washington, DC.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2025Article
- Video-based telemedicine utilization patterns and associated factors among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed-methods scoping review.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- Variability in Primary Care Telehealth Delivery Methods Across Chronic Conditions.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Quality of asynchronous webchatsThe Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2024Article
- Disparities in Video-Based Primary Care Use Among Veterans with Cardiovascular Disease.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
- Cardiovascular disease risk management during COVID-19: in-person vs virtual visits.The American journal of managed care · 2024Article
- Variations in Physician Telemedicine Provision.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Variation in initial and continued use of primary, mental health, and specialty video care among Veterans.Health services research · 2023Article
- Use of Telehealth for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in Safety Net Primary Care Settings: A Mixed-Methods Study.Substance use & misuse · 2023Article
- Association of Adequacy of Broadband Internet Service With Access to Primary Care in the Veterans Health Administration Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.JAMA network open · 2022Article
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- Perceived Impact of Virtual Visits on Access to Care in Family Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Benefits and Challenges.Journal of primary care & community healthArticle
- Primary Care Team Perspectives on the Suitability of Telehealth Modality (Phone vs Video) at the Veterans Health Administration.Journal of primary care & community healthArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAt the onset of COVID-19, there was a rapid expansion of telehealth (video/telephone) visits to maintain delivery of primary care (PC) services at the Veterans Health Administration (VA). This study examines patient, provider, and site-level characteristics of any virtual and video-based care in PC.
methodsInterrupted time series (ITS) design was conducted using VA administrative/clinical, electronic healthcare data, 12-months before and 12-months after COVID-19 onset (set at March 2020) at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (GLA), between 2019 and 2021. Patients with at least one visit to a VA PC clinic at GLA (n = 547,730 visits) were included in the analysis. The two main outcomes for this study were 1) any telehealth (versus in-person), as well as 2) video-based care (versus telephone). For the ITS analysis, segmented logistic regression on repeated monthly observations of any telehealth and video-based care was used.
resultsPercent telehealth and video use increased from 13.9 to 63.1%, and 0.3 to 11.3%, respectively, before to after COVID-19 onset. According to adjusted percentages, GLA community-based clinics (37.7%, versus 29.8% in hospital-based clinics, p < .001), social workers/pharmacists/dietitians (53.7%, versus 34.0% for PC clinicians, p < .001), and minority groups, non-Hispanic African Americans (36.3%) and Hispanics (34.4%, versus 35.3% for Whites, p < .001) were more likely to use telephone than video. Conversely, mental health providers (43.3%) compared to PC clinicians (15.3%), and women (for all age groups, except 75+) compared to men, were more likely to use video than telephone (all p's < .001).
conclusionsSince telehealth care provision is likely to continue after COVID-19, additional research is needed to identify which PC outpatient services are better suited for telephone (e.g., case management) versus video-based care (e.g., integrated mental health visits). Additionally, it is important to understand how all clinics can systematically increase access to both telephone- and video-based PC services, while ensuring equitable care for all patient populations.
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