PERCEPTIONS OF TELEHEALTH BARRIERS AND BENEFITS DURING COVID AMONG AN INTERDISCIPLINARY GROUP OF CARE PROVIDERS OF OLDER ADULTS WITH CANCER

ABSTRACT

Introduction Caring for older adults with cancer is more demanding than ever. A key challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the transition of care provision to telehealth. Methods Surveys were developed and distributed in April 2020 and summer 2021 by the Cancer and Aging Research Group Advocacy Committee and Association of Community Cancer Centers. Data on telehealth and demographics presented will be analyzed using descriptive statistics and chisquares. Results Most of the respondents in both cohorts were physicians, APPs, and social workers, and predominately US-based. More than 80% used telehealth during COVID compared to only 28.4% before COVID. In 2020 and 2021, respectively, the top barriers to telehealth were patient technology challenges (90.5%, 95.7%), patient access to technology (91.2%, 95.7%), patient perception (44.2%, 87.8%), treatment inappropriate for telehealth (31.4%, 81.3%), and patient impairments (e.g., auditory acuity, which was not included in 2020) to technology use (96.5%). In 2021, benefits noted included lower need for transportation (81.9%), decreased patient exposure (78.5%%), caregiver availability (68.1%%), healthcare worker safety (66.7%%), and ease of scheduling (45.6%). Conclusions A year into the COVID crisis, cancer care providers face consistent barriers to providing telehealth to older adults with cancer. Further studies are needed to evaluate telehealth's long-term impact and determine if patients' perceptions are congruent with their healthcare providers.