How do Medicare beneficiaries use telehealth?
Investigators have explored telehealth use among Medicare beneficiaries.
In the study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the investigators used de-identified nationally representative data from nearly 15,000 U.S. Medicare beneficiaries aged 18 years and older who had in-person or telehealth visits. They then linked each visit to a medical condition — either related or not related to mental health — to determine how a loss of telehealth coverage may affect patients, particularly those with limited or no access to medical facilities.
The investigators found that while the large majority of the participants reported in-person visits only, just over 16% of them used telehealth, notably for anxiety-related disorders, depressive disorders, uncomplicated diabetes mellitus, hypertension and COVID-19 infections. The participants who had a telehealth visit were more likely to have a bachelor’s or higher degree of educational attainment, physical or cognitive limitations, fair or poor health, and greater health care use.
The findings indicated that the loss of telehealth coverage could make it more challenging for some Medicare beneficiaries to access care and burden health care systems that may not have the capacity to manage larger in-person patient volumes.
Read more: Annals of Internal Medicine
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