ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2024
Evaluation of the Veterans Health Administration's Digital Divide Consult for Tablet Distribution and Telehealth Adoption: Cohort Study.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Reduces Heavy Drinking Among a Non-Treatment Sample of People With Alcohol Use Disorder: A Feasibility Trial With CBT4CBT.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Trial
- Rural and Non-Rural U.S. Veterans Receiving Virtual Geriatric Mental Health Services in the Clinical Resource Hubs.Psychiatric research and clinical practice · 2026Article
- Perceptions of Technology and Digital Health Tools Among Recently Incarcerated Adults With Opioid Use Disorder: Semistructured Interview Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Comparative Outcomes of Video, Phone, and In-Person Mental Health Care.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- A Roadmap for Implementing Virtual Geriatric Mental Health Services for Rural Veterans: Qualitative Longitudinal Evaluation.JMIR aging · 2026Article
- Provider and leadership attitudes toward telemental health at sites with high levels of video, phone, and in-person care: A qualitative analysis.Psychological services · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Correlates of Social Risks and Receipt of Resources Among Rural and Urban Veterans.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2026Article
- Tablets and telehealth: expanding care reach by closing the digital divide.Health affairs scholar · 2026Article
- Supporting Access to Care Through Peripheral Devices and Patient-Generated Health Data: Qualitative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Offering in-home video visits: a descriptive national survey of interprofessional clinicians across Veterans Health Administration.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Health Literacy and Associated Factors Among Military Personnel: A Cross-Sectional Study in Lithuania.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Social Determinants of Health ICD-10 Code Use by a Large Integrated Healthcare System.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Patient Perspectives on AI- and XR-Enabled Telemedicine: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Romania.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Site-Level Differences in the Provision of Telemental Health Care Within the Department of Veterans Affairs.Health services research · 2025Observational
- Article
- Phone-only mental health care within the Department of Veterans Affairs: Associations with rurality, age, sex, and clinical severity.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundVideo telehealth offers a mechanism to help Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients overcome health care access barriers; however, many veterans lack a suitable device and sufficient internet connectivity. To address disparities in technology access, VHA established a Connected Device Program that offers veterans loaned video-capable tablets and internet service. In 2020, VHA introduced a national Digital Divide Consult to facilitate and standardize referrals for this resource.
objectiveWe sought to evaluate the reach and impact of VHA's Connected Device Program, leveraging Digital Divide Consult data to determine whether resources are supporting veterans with health care needs and access barriers.
methodsWe examined the reach of VHA's Connected Device Program using national secondary data from VHA's electronic health records among 119,926 tablet recipients who received a tablet (April 1, 2020, to February 28, 2023) and 683,219 veterans from the general VHA population. We assessed changes in tablet recipients' demographic and clinical characteristics before and after implementation of the Digital Divide Consult compared with the general VHA population. We examined the impact of tablets and the consult on adoption of telehealth (ie, video visit use and number of visits) adjusting for differences between tablet recipients and the general VHA population. Finally, we evaluated consult implementation by assessing the use of video-based services by tablet referral reason.
resultsCommon reasons for tablet referral included mental health diagnoses (50,367/79,230, 63.9%), distance from a VHA facility >30 miles (17,228/79,230, 21.7%), and social isolation (16,161/79,230, 20.4%). Moreover, 63.0% (49,925/79,230) of individuals who received a tablet after implementation of the Digital Divide Consult had a video visit in the first 6 months of tablet receipt. Some consult reasons were associated with a higher-than-average percentage of video telehealth use, including enrollment in evidence-based mental health programs (74.8% [830/1100] with video use), living >30 miles from a VHA facility (68.3% [10,557/17,228] with video use), and having a mental health diagnosis (68.1% [34,301/50,367] with video use). Tablet recipients had nearly 3 times the likelihood of having a video visit within a month once provided a tablet compared to the general VHA population, with an adjusted risk ratio of 2.95 (95% CI 2.91-2.99) before consult implementation and 2.73 (95% CI 2.70-2.76) after consult implementation. Analyses of telehealth adoption suggested that veterans receiving tablets for mental health care and evidence-based programs have higher rates of video visits, while those who are homebound or receiving tablets for hospice have higher rates of nonuse.
conclusionsThis evaluation of VHA's Connected Device Program suggests that tablets are facilitating video-based care among veterans with complex needs. Standardization of referrals through the Digital Divide Consult has created opportunities to identify groups of tablet recipients with lower telehealth adoption rates who might benefit from a targeted intervention.
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