New considerations of health disparities within allergy and immunology.

The pandemic, political upheavals, and social justice efforts in our society have resulted in attention to persistent health disparities and the urgent need to address them. Using a scoping review, we describe published updates to address disparities and targets for interventions to improve gaps in care within allergy and immunology. These disparities-related studies provide a broad view of our current understanding of how social determinants of health threaten patient outcomes and our ability to advance health equity efforts in our field. We outline next steps to improve access to care and advance health equity for patients with allergic/immunologic diseases through actions taken at the individual, community, and policy levels, which could be applied outside of our field. Key among these are efforts to increase the diversity among our trainees, providers, and scientific teams and enhancing efforts to participate in advocacy work and public health interventions. Addressing health disparities requires advancing our understanding of the interplay between social and structural barriers to care and enacting the needed interventions in various key areas to effect change.

The Future of Telehealth in Allergy and Immunology Training

With emerging interest in the use of telemedicine, allergy-immunology should be at the forefront of adoption and implementation of these services. Patients report a greater desire for telemedicine services as well as satisfaction with video-based visits with their providers. Interim virtual visits can accommodate overscheduled clinics, reduce burdens of travel to distant sites, improve access to subspecialty care, and increase adherence during monitoring of chronic allergic conditions. The outpatient nature of allergy-immunology coupled with the ease of conducting many aspects of a routine visit via telemedicine makes the incorporation of telehealth training into fellowship programs highly desirable. The short-term closure of hospital-affiliated clinics, in particular, for vulnerable or immunodeficient patients, in the setting of a global pandemic demonstrates the timeliness of this topic.A framework for implementing telemedicine into the allergy-immunology curriculum, training faculty on appropriate supervision, providing elective clinical experience in the form of continuity clinics, and simulating telemedicine delivery is discussed. Proposed telemedicine competencies desired for the independent practice of telemedicine are suggested.