Urban Health Today Editors

Urban Health Today

Certain vulnerable populations with cancer may have reduced uptake of telehealth, especially video modalities.&ldquo;During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, cancer healthcare rapidly transitioned towards reliance on telehealth as the default so as to minimize risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection for patients and providers,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8605776/pdf/11764_2021_Article_1133.pdf">study</a> researchers wrote. &ldquo;This rapid shift may have simplified care logistics and improved care convenience for many patients &hellip; At the same time, it is also possible that telehealth inadvertently exacerbated existing disparities in healthcare for some vulnerable populations.&rdquo;Researchers at a designated comprehensive cancer center in Minnesota reviewed visits by cancer survivors between January and December 2020. Of 159,301 visits, 33,242 were telehealth visits.The researchers found that older and rural-dwelling individuals were underrepresented in telehealth visits compared with in-person care.About two-third of telehealth visits were among those aged 18-49, and telehealth visits were less common among rural compared with urban residents (43% vs. 53%).Patients that were aged older than 70, rural residents, and most patient groups of color used video for only between 33% to 43% of their telehealth visits.&ldquo;One compelling finding of this study is that the relative participation of rural (compared with urban) patients in any kind of telehealth was lower than their relative participation among in-person care,&rdquo; the researchers wrote. &ldquo;This finding is relevant since telehealth has been previously described as one potential approach to mitigate rural healthcare shortages that exist independently of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and to improve care logistics, for example travel times.&rdquo;The study also showed less telehealth use among certain cancer types, including hematologic malignancies.Based on these results, the researchers concluded that a &ldquo;one-size-fits-all approach&rdquo; may not be feasible going forward.&ldquo;Future research should evaluate potential underlying contributors to the observed disparities such as technology and internet access, fear of discrimination, and barriers that exist at the provider versus patient level,&rdquo; they wrote.

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Certain vulnerable populations with cancer may have reduced uptake of telehealth, especially video modalities. ...

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