OHSU Seeks to Address Telehealth Disparities
A March 2021 Health Affairs article found that that patients with limited English proficiency had lower rates of telehealth use (4.8 percent vs. 12.3 percent) compared with proficient English speakers. New research from Oregon Health & Science University found that seniors, non-English speakers and Black patients relied more on telephone than video visits. The OHSU researchers said the comparative lack of access to two-way video exacerbates disparities in healthcare access.
Visits by telephone or through two-way video conferencing now account for 27 percent of all clinical visits with OHSU clinicians compared to only 2 percent before the pandemic. OHSU sees telehealth as a feature of medicine that will endure beyond COVID-19. “Our goal is to never go below 25 percent,” said Mark Lovgren, OHSU interim vice president for the Office of Digital Health, in a story on the OHSU website. “If we’re moving toward a world where digital health is a viable option, we want to make sure everyone has access to it.”
In their paper, published in JAMIA Open, the OHSU researchers found that seniors, non-English speakers, and Black patients were more reliant on telephone than video for care.
Jeff Gold, M.D., professor of medicine (pulmonary and critical care medicine) in the OHSU School of Medicine and a co-author on the recent study, said the effort to reduce disparities in telemedicine extends across the health system and includes creating dashboards to measure how different patient groups access services.
To address the findings, OHSU is working with community advisory boards to ascertain reasons people may not be making full use of telehealth tools. The boards will help to determine whether there are obstacles such as lack of broadband internet access or simply preference for in-person visits among some groups.
Other measures include tapping volunteers, including medical students, who can act as “digital navigators” to connect with patients individually.
Derick Du Vivier, M.D., M.B.A., OHSU senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, is quoted as saying, “It’s not enough just to identify the disparity,” Du Vivier said. “We have to improve our relationships with the community affected, because the community is going to be an extremely important aspect to any kind of solution to this problem.”
