Evaluation of Telemedicine Use Among US Patients With Newly Diagnosed Cancer by Socioeconomic Status

Abstract

The lowest socioeconomic status (SES) quartile is SES 1, and SES 4 is the highest quartile. Error bars represent the 95% Wilson score CIs for the proportions.

Patient, physician, and policy factors underlying variation in use of telemedicine for radiation oncology cancer care

“…A recent analysis of claims data from a large commercial insurer examined patients with newly diagnosed cancer at the start of the pandemic. This study showed that patients in the highest quartile of a socioeconomic index were 31% more likely to utilize telemedicine when compared with those in the lowest quartile 41 . Although telemedicine is a novel potential pathway for accessing cancer care, it is not universally accessible, and patient factors such as literacy, familiarity with technology, or access to resources such as mobile devices and wireless connections may represent barriers to telemedicine access in disadvantaged populations 42 .…”

“…This study showed that patients in the highest quartile of a socioeconomic index were 31% more likely to utilize telemedicine when compared with those in the lowest quartile. 41 Although telemedicine is a novel potential pathway for accessing cancer care, it is not universally accessible, and patient factors such as literacy, familiarity with technology, or access to resources such as mobile devices and wireless connections may represent barriers to telemedicine access in disadvantaged populations. 42 Our finding that 43% of the variation in telemedicine use patterns was driven by the physicians also emphasizes the importance of engaging providers, care teams, and health systems in understanding and directly addressing potential inequities in telemedicine access.…”

Predictors of telemedicine use during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States–an analysis of a national electronic medical record database

“…Patient level medical comorbidities were included as patients with a higher degree of comorbidities may have a differential utilization of telemedicine services. Area level measures of socioeconomic status and rurality were included, as previous studies suggest that these factors may influence telemedicine access and utilization [ 16 , 17 ]. In a secondary, exploratory analysis, limited to patients who had at least one telemedicine encounter during the study period, the primary logistic regression model was refit with at least one video telemedicine (vs. no video telemedicine) as the outcome of interest.…”

A Text Message Intervention to Support Latino Dementia Family Caregivers (CuidaTEXT): Feasibility study

“…Text messaging is a well-suited modality to deliver caregiver support for Latinos given its universal use, and engagement in this population, its convenience, low cost, privacy, and scalability (Cartujano-Barrera et al, 2020; Guerriero et al, 2013; Hall et al, 2015; Pew Research Center, 2021; Schilling et al, 2013; Zurovac et al, 2012). The potential of text message interventions among Latinos contrasts with synchronous interventions, or interventions that largely rely on apps, computers or internet broadband, as these may widen disparities among Latinos due to disproportionately lower access (Atske & Perrin, 2021; Katz et al, 2022). The present study aimed to test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of CuidaTEXT among Latino family caregivers of IWDs.…”