Home Research Research Library The Disproportionate Impact of Primary Care Disruption and Telehealth Utilization During COVID-19 The Disproportionate Impact of Primary Care Disruption and Telehealth Utilization During COVID-19 2024 Author(s) Morgan, Zachary J, Bazemore, Andrew W, Peterson, Lars E, Phillips, Robert L, and Dai, Mingliang Topic(s) Role of Primary Care Keyword(s) Practice Organization / Ownership, and Prime Volume Annals of Family Medicine Source Annals of Family Medicine PURPOSE The COVID-19 pandemic not only exacerbated existing disparities in health care in general but likely worsened disparities in access to primary care. Our objective was to quantify the nationwide decrease in primary care visits and increase in telehealth utilization during the pandemic and explore whether certain groups of patients were disproportionately affected. METHODS We used a geographically diverse primary care electronic health record data set to examine the following 3 outcomes: (1) change in total visit volume, (2) change in in-person visit volume, and (3) the telehealth conversion ratio defined as the number of pandemic telehealth visits divided by the total number of prepandemic visits. We assessed whether these outcomes were associated with patient characteristics including age, gender, race, ethnicity, comorbidities, rurality, and area-level social deprivation. RESULTS Our primary sample included 1,652,871 patients from 408 practices. During the pandemic we observed decreases of 7% and 17% in total and in-person visit volume and a 10% telehealth conversion ratio. The greatest decreases in visit volume were observed among pediatric patients (−24%), Asian patients (−11%), and those with more comorbidities (−9%). Telehealth usage was greatest among Hispanic or Latino patients (17%) and those living in urban areas (12%). CONCLUSIONS Decreases in primary care visit volume were partially offset by increasing telehealth use for all patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the magnitude of these changes varied significantly across all patient characteristics. These variations have implications not only for the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also for planners seeking to ready the primary care delivery system for any future systematic disruptions. ABFM Research Read all 2015 Making Personalized Health Care Even More Personalized: Insights From Activities of the IOM Genomics Roundtable Go to Making Personalized Health Care Even More Personalized: Insights From Activities of the IOM Genomics Roundtable 2019 Facilitating Practice Transformation in Frontline Health Care Go to Facilitating Practice Transformation in Frontline Health Care 2026 Primary Care Physician Continuity Is a Consistent Measure Associated with Lower Costs and Hospitalizations Go to Primary Care Physician Continuity Is a Consistent Measure Associated with Lower Costs and Hospitalizations 2016 Reducing Burden, Assuring Competence, Improving Quality, and Enhancing Professionalism: How Can Abfm Contribute to All? Go to Reducing Burden, Assuring Competence, Improving Quality, and Enhancing Professionalism: How Can Abfm Contribute to All?
Author(s) Morgan, Zachary J, Bazemore, Andrew W, Peterson, Lars E, Phillips, Robert L, and Dai, Mingliang Topic(s) Role of Primary Care Keyword(s) Practice Organization / Ownership, and Prime Volume Annals of Family Medicine Source Annals of Family Medicine
ABFM Research Read all 2015 Making Personalized Health Care Even More Personalized: Insights From Activities of the IOM Genomics Roundtable Go to Making Personalized Health Care Even More Personalized: Insights From Activities of the IOM Genomics Roundtable 2019 Facilitating Practice Transformation in Frontline Health Care Go to Facilitating Practice Transformation in Frontline Health Care 2026 Primary Care Physician Continuity Is a Consistent Measure Associated with Lower Costs and Hospitalizations Go to Primary Care Physician Continuity Is a Consistent Measure Associated with Lower Costs and Hospitalizations 2016 Reducing Burden, Assuring Competence, Improving Quality, and Enhancing Professionalism: How Can Abfm Contribute to All? Go to Reducing Burden, Assuring Competence, Improving Quality, and Enhancing Professionalism: How Can Abfm Contribute to All?
2015 Making Personalized Health Care Even More Personalized: Insights From Activities of the IOM Genomics Roundtable Go to Making Personalized Health Care Even More Personalized: Insights From Activities of the IOM Genomics Roundtable
2019 Facilitating Practice Transformation in Frontline Health Care Go to Facilitating Practice Transformation in Frontline Health Care
2026 Primary Care Physician Continuity Is a Consistent Measure Associated with Lower Costs and Hospitalizations Go to Primary Care Physician Continuity Is a Consistent Measure Associated with Lower Costs and Hospitalizations
2016 Reducing Burden, Assuring Competence, Improving Quality, and Enhancing Professionalism: How Can Abfm Contribute to All? Go to Reducing Burden, Assuring Competence, Improving Quality, and Enhancing Professionalism: How Can Abfm Contribute to All?
