ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2024
Health Care Usage During the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Adoption of Telemedicine: Retrospective Study of Chronic Disease Cohorts.
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 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dynamics of healthcare inequalities in type 2 diabetes mellitus across the COVID-19 pandemic: a real-world population-based study.BMC health services research · 2026Observational
- Health care utilization before and after COVID-19 diagnosis: a multidisease matched-cohort study by sociodemographic factors.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Teleophthalmology and Teleglaucoma in Clinical Practice: Attitudes of Ophthalmologists in Bulgaria.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Evaluating a Telemedical Follow-Up Program for Continuity of Care After Hospital Discharge: Prospective Clinical Intervention Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic accelerated telehealth adoption across disease cohorts of patients. For many patients, routine medical care was no longer an option, and others chose not to visit medical offices in order to minimize COVID-19 exposure. In this study, we take a comprehensive multidisease approach in studying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care usage and the adoption of telemedicine through the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
objectiveWe studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on in-person health care usage and telehealth adoption across chronic diseases to understand differences in telehealth adoption across disease cohorts and patient demographics (such as the Social Vulnerability Index [SVI]).
methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of 6 different disease cohorts (anxiety: n=67,578; depression: n=45,570; diabetes: n=81,885; kidney failure: n=29,284; heart failure: n=21,152; and cancer: n=35,460). We used summary statistics to characterize changes in usage and regression analysis to study how patient characteristics relate to in-person health care and telehealth adoption and usage during the first 12 months of the pandemic.
resultsWe observed a reduction in in-person health care usage across disease cohorts (ranging from 10% to 24%). For most diseases we study, telehealth appointments offset the reduction in in-person visits. Furthermore, for anxiety and depression, the increase in telehealth usage exceeds the reduction in in-person visits (by up to 5%). We observed that younger patients and men have higher telehealth usage after accounting for other covariates. Patients from higher SVI areas are less likely to use telehealth; however, if they do, they have a higher number of telehealth visits, after accounting for other covariates.
conclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic affected health care usage across diseases, and the role of telehealth in replacing in-person visits varies by disease cohort. Understanding these differences can inform current practices and provides opportunities to further guide modalities of in-person and telehealth visits. Critically, further study is needed to understand barriers to telehealth service usage for patients in higher SVI areas. A better understanding of the role of social determinants of health may lead to more support for patients and help individual health care providers improve access to care for patients with chronic conditions.
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