TY - JOUR
T1 - Covid-19 and telehealth operations in texas primary care clinics
T2 - Disparities in medically underserved area clinics
AU - Adepoju, Omolola
AU - Liaw, Winston
AU - Chae, Minji
AU - Ojinnaka, Chinedum
AU - Britton, Erin
AU - Reves, Sarah
AU - Etz, Rebecca
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Meharry Medical College.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the landscape of health care delivery, prompting a rapid, widespread adoption of telehealth in primary care practices. Using a pooled sample of 1,344 primary care clinics in Texas, we examined the adoption of telehealth in Texas during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, by comparing medically underserved area (MUA) clinics and non-medically underserved area (non-MUA) clinics. Our analysis suggests that compared with MUA clinics, clinics in non-MUAs were more likely to conduct a majority of their visits via telehealth before May 1st, 2020. However, later surveys indicated that differences in telehealth use between MUA and non-MUA clinics lessened, suggesting that some of the barriers that MUA clinics initially faced might have resolved over time. This research provides an additional perspective in discussions about telehealth adoption on a widespread, permanent basis in Texas and the U.S.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the landscape of health care delivery, prompting a rapid, widespread adoption of telehealth in primary care practices. Using a pooled sample of 1,344 primary care clinics in Texas, we examined the adoption of telehealth in Texas during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, by comparing medically underserved area (MUA) clinics and non-medically underserved area (non-MUA) clinics. Our analysis suggests that compared with MUA clinics, clinics in non-MUAs were more likely to conduct a majority of their visits via telehealth before May 1st, 2020. However, later surveys indicated that differences in telehealth use between MUA and non-MUA clinics lessened, suggesting that some of the barriers that MUA clinics initially faced might have resolved over time. This research provides an additional perspective in discussions about telehealth adoption on a widespread, permanent basis in Texas and the U.S.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Delivery of health care
KW - Health care disparities
KW - Health services accessibility
KW - Health services needs and demands
KW - Medically Underserved Areas
KW - Primary health care
KW - Telehealth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108188487&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85108188487&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1353/HPU.2021.0073
DO - 10.1353/HPU.2021.0073
M3 - Article
C2 - 34120986
AN - SCOPUS:85108188487
SN - 1049-2089
VL - 32
SP - 948
EP - 957
JO - Journal of health care for the poor and underserved
JF - Journal of health care for the poor and underserved
IS - 2
ER -