S14: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Telehealth
Poster Presenter
Victoria Ashley Ramirez
Research Assistant
Temple University United States
Objectives
Telehealth, the distribution of health-related services via electronic technologies, became critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, as social distancing and isolation limited in-person services. We investigated changes in reporting of telehealth and its impact during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Method
A literature review was conducted using the keywords “telehealth” and “telemedicine” in PubMed, including global results before (pre-2020) and during the pandemic (2020-21). The number of publications and change in content were evaluated to identify any impact on relevant stakeholders.
Results
The COVID-19 pandemic increased the use of telehealth. The increased number of publications in 2020 and 2021 was remarkable; the number of yearly publications with the selected keywords increased by 150% from 2019 (> 4,000 publications) to 2020 (> 6,000 publications). The volume of literature was used as a metric for interest and use in telehealth services, and to update changes and patterns in stakeholders’ use during the pandemic. The stakeholders identified as being impacted by this increased use include (i) patients, (ii) practitioners, (iii) insurance companies and associated regulations, and (iv) vendors. The literature shows that the number of patients using telehealth greatly increased due to the reliance on telehealth during the pandemic. Patient satisfaction was higher for video appointments compared to in-person appointments. For practitioners, telehealth training programs were implemented to improve their navigation and understanding of the new system. Both patients and practitioners found this technology to be a safe and convenient alternative for in-person care. Due to both patient and practitioner satisfaction, we expect to see a shift in annual telehealth costs from $30 billion to $250 billion. To make telehealth services more accessible, regulations were loosened such as changing geographic rules for where patients could be located relative to their practitioner’s state licensing and relaxing HIPPA laws surrounding acceptable technology. Additionally, telehealth services provided vendors with opportunities to offer services in medical communications technology.
Conclusion
Telehealth has been a widely-used tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused a sudden influx in patients using telehealth, which had great impacts on the need for, delivery of, and satisfaction with the technology. In turn, telehealth was improved to become even more safe, convenient, and accessible. Systemic changes in our health delivery have changed in response to COVID-19.
