Use of telemedicine spiked amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but is still used significantly more in the years following crisis compared to the time before, new analysis from Penn Medicine researchers shows. Telemedicine's usage varies across patient groups as well, the researchers found. They published their work in the Journal of General Internal Medicine .
Elderly people were more than 50 percent less likely to use telemedicine for their health care visits than going to an office-based appointment. The researchers also found that telemedicine visits were more common in primary care. Those in lower income brackets also more likely (by 6 percent) to make visits via telemedicine than in-office.
White patients more likely to use telemedicine, Asian patients 18 percent less likely to use it, Black patients 12 percent less likely, and Hispanic patients 6 percent less likely.
Distance and usage of technology also had a significant bearing on telemedicine usage as well. If a patient was more than 15 miles away from their nearest care provider, they were 42 percent more likely to use telemedicine over in-person care. And if they already used an online patient portal, they were 44 percent more likely to go with telemedicine.
"Telemedicine is no longer just a pandemic workaround—it has become a routine part of care delivery," said senior author Yong Chen, PhD , a professor of Biostatistics. "The next step is ensuring it can improve access and convenience for all patients, with an eye toward determining and addressing the differences in who is able to use it."
