Study shows shift in use of telehealth for patients on hemodialysis post COVID-19
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Key takeaways:
- Of identified Medicare recipients, telehealth use was 9% in April 2020 and 2% in June 2021.
- Telehealth use was more prevalent in remote and socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.
Some U.S. nephrologists continued to use telehealth during the pandemic despite the decreasing link between COVID-19 incidence and telehealth usage over time, according to a published study.
The practice allowed nephrologists to “substitute face-to-face in-center hemodialysis visits with telemedicine encounters. ... [and conduct] some of their in-center dialysis care via telemedicine,” Jingbo Niu, MD, DSc, of the section of nephrology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, wrote with colleagues. “We use[d] national Medicare claims data to examine patterns of reported telemedicine use for in-center hemodialysis care, including correlates of its use and how the use of telemedicine changed ... throughout the pandemic.”
In a national claims analysis, researchers identified 267,434 Medicare beneficiaries receiving in-center hemodialysis between March 2020 and June 2021. Investigators of the retrospective cohort analysis used Medicare claims submitted by nephrologists to determine use of telehealth for patients on in-center hemodialysis during the first 16 months of the pandemic. Primary outcome was whether a patient was seen during dialysis via telehealth.
Of the beneficiaries identified, telehealth utilization peaked at 9% in April 2020 and declined to 2% in June 2021, the findings showed. Telehealth use was more prevalent in remote and socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, according to the researchers.
In addition, patients were more likely to receive care via telehealth in areas with a higher incidence of COVID-19, although the influence of the pandemic gradually waned. Patients were also more likely to have telehealth care at facilities with more staff, the researchers wrote.
The U.S. government issued waivers in March 2020 that cut regulatory barriers around telehealth, and nephrologists were reimbursed for virtual visits during in-center care.
Now, “as the threats related to COVID-19 wane, it will be important to consider how telemedicine could be used to improve the care of patients receiving in-center hemodialysis,” Niu and colleagues wrote. “Findings from this study suggest a potential role for telemedicine in the in-center hemodialysis setting going forward.”
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