Telehealth Availability and Usage Among Medicare Beneficiaries During the COVID-19 Pandemic, October and November 2020

Context: During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for telehealth services increased to reduce disease exposure for patients and providers and to meet preexisting demand for physician services in health resource shortage areas. Objective: To estimate self-reported telehealth availability, equipment for accessing telehealth, and telehealth usage among Medicare beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: We used data from the 2020 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) COVID-19 Fall Supplement Public Use File to estimate the weighted percentages of beneficiaries who had (a) access to telehealth before or during COVID-19; (b) equipment for accessing telehealth; and (c) telehealth visits during COVID-19. We used logistic regression to examine sociodemographic factors associated with telehealth usage. Participants: Beneficiaries who participated in the MCBS COVID-19 Fall Supplements. Results: During October and November 2020, telehealth appointments offered by providers were available to 63.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 61.8-65.9) of Medicare beneficiaries who had accessed medical care by telephone or video. Among those, only 18.0% (95% CI, 16.1-19.9) had been offered telehealth before the pandemic. The majority of beneficiaries (92.2%; 95% CI, 91.2-93.1) had 1 or more types of equipment available for accessing telehealth, but only 44.9% (95% CI, 43.0-46.9) had had a telehealth visit since July 1, 2020. Older adults, minorities, those wit...
Source: Journal of Public Health Management and Practice - Category: Health Management Tags: Research Reports Source Type: research