Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association
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Background: Expanding access to direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) for treating hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the national goal for HCV elimination, but important urban-rural disparities exist in DAA use. Evidence is needed to evaluate intervention efforts to reduce urban-rural disparities in DAA utilization. Methods: We used Medicare data to compare DAA use between urban HCV patients and rural HCV patients in two states: State A with a telementoring approach to train rural providers to treat HCV patients and State B without such an intervention. ⋯ Rural patients were less likely to receive DAAs over time (HR = 1.12 [0.93 to 1.36] in the first 12 months and HR = 0.62 [0.40 to 0.96] after 24 months). Only 81 (36%) DAA users in rural areas in State B were treated by PCPs. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the telementoring approach may help reduce urban-rural disparities in DAA utilization.
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Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is straining health care worldwide with >31 million confirmed cases. Currently, 1 in every 100 U. S. residents and 245,000 in New York City are confirmed positive. ⋯ Results: While telemedicine has reduced strain on in-person visits, preliminary reflections highlight implementation successes and challenges. Conclusions: To provide effective care beyond this crisis, fundamental changes in training, technological accessibility, and health care policy are needed. We propose open access to telehealth training, screening of patient's potential technological inequities and socioeconomic insecurities, and advocacy to secure broad long-term access to telehealth care.
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Introduction: In this study, we aimed to detect anxiety levels of the physicians during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to assess the knowledge, perspective, and willingness of the physicians about telemedicine. Materials and Methods: This was a survey study of physicians from different specialties who provided patient care during the pandemic in Turkey. A total of 824 physicians responded to questionnaire, which consisted of 5 sections: (1) demographic characteristics; (2) anxiety level; (3) knowledge; (4) perspective; and (5) willingness to use telemedicine. ⋯ Conclusion: About half of our physicians had different levels of anxiety during the pandemic, and this anxiety seemed to be more related to infecting their relatives. Participants thought that providing health care services with telemedicine during the pandemic period would be beneficial and reduce the spread of hospital-acquired COVID-19. However, there was no consensus among the participants regarding the use of telemedicine in the postpandemic period.
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Reduced No-Show Rates and Sustained Patient Satisfaction of Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Introduction: The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has thrust telehealth into the center stage of health care, leading to a dramatic increase in utilization of telehealth services. The impact of telehealth on patient satisfaction during the current pandemic is yet to be fully understood. Objective: This study aimed to identify patient perspectives and behaviors toward virtual primary care appointments at a telehealth-naïve institution during the COVID-19 pandemic and establish the rate of missed appointments to help guide future implementation of telehealth services. ⋯ No statistically significant differences were identified in the satisfaction metrics with telehealth visits performed on video (n = 26) versus the phone-only format (n = 38). Patients aged 65 years or over were less likely to have a video component to their virtual visit (1/12, 8.3%) than those under age 65 (25/44, 56.8%) (p = 0.0031). Discussion/Conclusions: Telehealth offers significant benefits for both patients and providers, strongly supporting its widespread utilization both during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Background: The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted telemedicine as a care delivery tool uniquely suited for a disaster pandemic. Introduction: With support from emergency department (ED) leadership, our institution rapidly deployed telemedicine in a novel approach to large-scale ED infectious disease management at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center (NYP/WCMC) and NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital (NYP/LMH). Materials and Methods: Nineteen telemedicine carts were placed in COVID-19 isolation rooms to conserve personal protective equipment (PPE) and mitigate infectious risk for patients and providers by decreasing in-person exposures. Results: The teleisolation carts were used for 261 COVID-19 patient interactions from March to May 2020, with 79% of overall use in March. Our urban academic site (NYP/WCMC) had 173 of these cases, and the urban community hospital (NYP/LMH) had 88. ⋯ The carts also increased patient comfort and reduced the psychological toll of isolation. Discussion: Deploying customized placement strategies in these two EDs maximized cart availability for isolation patients and demonstrates the utility of telemedicine in various ED settings. Conclusions: The successful introduction of this program in both academic and urban community hospitals suggests that widespread adoption of similar initiatives could improve safe ED evaluation of potentially infectious patients. In the longer term, our experience underscores the critical role of telemedicine in disaster preparedness planning, as building these capabilities in advance allows for the agile scaling needed to manage unforeseen catastrophic scenarios.