Background Dramatic decreases in outpatient visits and sudden increases in telehealth visits were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was unclear whether these changes differed by patient demographics and socioeconomic status. Objective This study aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic on in-person outpatient and telehealth visits (telephone and video) by demographic characteristics and household income in a diverse population. Methods We calculated weekly rates of outpatient and telehealth visits by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood-level median household income among members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) from January 5, 2020, to October 31, 2020, and the corresponding period in 2019. We estimated the percentage change in visit rates during the early pandemic period (March 22 to April 25, 2020) and the late pandemic period (October 4 to October 31, 2020) from the prepandemic period (January 5 to March 7, 2020) in Poisson regression models for each subgroup while adjusting for seasonality using 2019 data. We examined if the changes in visit rates differed by subgroups statistically by comparing their 95% CIs. Results Among 4.56 million KPSC members enrolled in January 2020, 15.0% (n=682,947) were ≥65 years old, 51.5% (n=2,345,020) were female, 39.4% (n=1,795,994) were Hispanic, and 7.7% (n=350,721) lived in an area of median household income
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, pandemic, telehealth, disparity, Health Care Utilization, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19 pandemic, Sex, Health, female, Patient, Virtual care, age, group, change, Care, Hispanic, demographics, demographic characteristics, subgroup, black, 95% CI, subgroups, individual, 95% CIs, Poisson regression model, objective, populations, decrease, Result, enrolled, examined, median, calculated, increase, changes in, increase in, groups, returned, statistically, increases in, 【제목키워드】 Outpatient,
Disparities in Outpatient and Telehealth Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Large Integrated Health Care Organization: Retrospective Cohort Study
[키워드] 95% CI
95% CIs
age
black
calculated
Care
change
changes in
COVID-19
COVID-19 pandemic
decrease
demographic characteristics
demographics
disparity
enrolled
examined
female
group
groups
Health
Health Care Utilization
Hispanic
increase
increase in
increases in
individual
median
objective
Outpatient
pandemic
Patient
Poisson regression model
populations
Result
returned
Sex
statistically
subgroup
subgroups
telehealth
Virtual care
[Category] Coronavirus, SARS,
PMC URL [DOI] 10.2196/29959
[Article Type] Original Paper
[Source] PMC
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