Study Illustrates Demographics, Specialties That Used Telemedicine Most During Pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread in the U.S. from January to June 2020, 30.1% of all outpatient visits were delivered via telemedicine, but the growth of telemedicine use varied dramatically across patient demographics, clinical specialties and medical conditions, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs. Looking at data from 16.7 million people with commercial insurance or Medicare Advantage, researchers found that people in counties with lower poverty and higher percentages of racial and ethnic minorities tended to use telemedicine more heavily. Clinical specialties such as endocrinology, gastroenterology and neurology saw the greatest uptake of telemedicine.