Remote Care Adoption in Underserved Congenital Heart Disease Patients During the COVID-19 Era

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic restricted in-person appointments and prompted an increase in remote healthcare delivery. Our goal was to assess access to remote care for complex pediatric cardiology patients. We performed a retrospective chart review of Texas Children ’s Hospital (TCH) pediatric cardiology outpatient appointments from March 2020 to December 2020 for established congenital heart disease (CHD) patients 1 to 17 yo. Primary outcome variables were remote care use of telemedicine and patient portal activation. Primary predictor variables were age, se x, insurance, race/ethnicity, language, and location. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze patient demographics. Multivariate logistic regression determined associations with remote care use (p <  0.05). We identified 5,410 established patients with clinic appointments during the identified timeframe. Adopters of telemedicine included 13% of patients (n = 691). Of the prior non patient portal users, 4.5% activated their accounts. On multivariate analysis, older age (10–17 yo) was associated with increased telemedicine (OR 2.04, 95%CI 1.71, 2.43) and patient portal use (OR 1.70, 95%CI 1.33, 2.17). Public insurance (OR 1.66, 95%CI 1.25, 2.20) and Spanish speaking were associated with increased patient portal adoption. Race/ethnicity was not significantly associated with telemedicine use or patient portal adoption. Telehealth adoption among older children may be indicative of their ability to aid in t...
Source: Mammalian Genome - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research