Access to telehealth services for colorectal cancer patients in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Am J Surg
; 224(5): 1267-1273, 2022 11.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1881645
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The COVID-19 pandemic yielded rapid telehealth deployment to improve healthcare access, including for surgical patients.METHODS:
We conducted a secret shopper study to assess telehealth availability for new patient and follow-up colorectal cancer care visits in a random national sample of Commission on Cancer accredited hospitals and investigated predictive facility-level factors.RESULTS:
Of 397 hospitals, 302 (76%) offered telehealth for colorectal cancer patients (75% for follow-up, 42% for new patients). For new patients, NCI-designated Cancer Programs offered telehealth more frequently than Integrated Network (OR 0.20, p = 0.01), Academic Comprehensive (OR 0.18, p = 0.001), Comprehensive Community (OR 0.10, p < 0.001), and Community (OR 0.11, p < 0.001) Cancer Programs. For follow-up, above average timeliness of care hospitals offered telehealth more frequently than average hospitals (OR 2.87, p = 0.04).CONCLUSIONS:
We identified access disparities and predictive factors for telehealth availability for colorectal cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors should be considered when constructing telehealth policies.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Colorectal Neoplasms
/
Telemedicine
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Am J Surg
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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