4.2 Article

Interest in and Concerns About Telehealth Among Adults Aged 50 to 80 Years

Journal

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MANAGED CARE
Volume 27, Issue 10, Pages 415-+

Publisher

MANAGED CARE & HEALTHCARE COMMUNICATIONS LLC
DOI: 10.37765/ajmc.2021.88759

Keywords

-

Funding

  1. AARP, Michigan Medicine
  2. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases [K23 DK118179]
  3. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development Service
  4. University of Michigan Program on Value Enhancement
  5. University of Michigan Veterans Health Administration

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Interest in and concerns about telehealth vary among midlife and older adults based on sociodemographic factors and experience with internet video communication. These findings suggest implications for interventions and policies to ensure equitable access to online healthcare.
OBJECTIVES: To describe associations between patient factors and interest in and concerns about telehealth video visits among adults in midlife and older. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional, nationally representative panel survey of US adults aged 50 to 80 years (N=2256) in May 2019. METHODS: Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted prevalence of interest in different types of video telehealth visits and concerns about telehealth for individuals with different characteristics. RESULTS: Individuals aged 65 to 80 (vs 50-64) years were more likely to be interested in a first-time telehealth visit (37.3% vs 31.5%; P< .05) and to be concerned about not feeling personally connected to their provider (52.8% vs 46.5%; P < .05). Women (vs men) were less likely to be interested in a first-time visit (29.3% vs 38.2%; P< .001) and more likely to be concerned about technical difficulties (52.3% vs 42.1%; P< .001). Black, non-Hispanic individuals (vs White, non-Hispanic individuals) were more likely to be interested in first-time (45.2% vs 29.8%; P < .001) and return (67.7% vs 56.2%; P< .01) visits. Individuals comfortable using video chat (vs never users) were more likely to be interested in a telehealth visit for any reason (all P < .0011 and less likely to have concerns about privacy, difficulty seeing/hearing, technical difficulties, not feeling personally connected, and Lower quality of care (all P<.01). CONCLUSIONS: Interest in and concerns about telehealth vary along the lines of sociodemographic factors and experience using the internet for video communication. These findings have implications for the design of interventions and policies to promote equitable access health care as it increasingly moves online.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.2
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available